Vietnamese Cuisine

Noodle salad (bun bo xao)

Cuisine: Vietnamese Prep time: 30 min(s) Cooking time: 10 min(s) Servings: Serves 4 Created by Luke Nguyen

Luke grew up on this very authentic southern dish, which makes a perfect light lunch. ‘Bun’ is the vermicelli noodles, ‘bo’ is the beef and ‘xao’ means to stir-fry – the beef is quickly marinated and charred in a hot wok and served on top of cold noodles, cucumber, bean sprouts and herbs. You simply add nuoc cham and garnish to taste.

Ingredients

500 g rump steak, finely sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce, plus 1 teaspoon extra
½ tbsp crushed garlic
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, finely sliced
500 g rice vermicelli, cooked and cooled
handful of bean sprouts
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
10 perilla leaves, finely shredded
10 mint leaves, finely shredded
10 Vietnamese mint leaves, finely shredded
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, sliced
pickled vegetables (from Asian food stores)
crushed roasted peanuts
fried shallots
nuoc cham sauce

Preparation

Combine the beef with 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, half the garlic and a little of the lemongrass. Marinate for 10 minutes.

Put the noodles into bowls and top with the bean sprouts, cucumber and most of the herbs.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat and add the onion and remaining lemongrass. Stir briefly then throw in the beef, allowing it to char and develop a smoky flavour. Add the extra fish sauce and remove from the heat. Add the beef to the bowls and sprinkle with the remaining herbs. Garnish with pickled vegetables, peanuts and fried shallots and dress with nuoc cham.

SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.

Vietnamese Restaurants

Displaying 10 of 276 Vietnamese Restaurants.

Restaurant Suburb
1. Le Bich Balmain
2. Thy Thy 1 Richmond
3. Kinh Do Macquarie
4. Pho Phu Quoc Dickson
5. Tu Do O'Connor
6. Phi Yen Northbridge
7. Viet Hoa Perth
8. New Saigon Vietnamese Adelaide
9. Vietnam Restaurant Pennington
10. Green Papaya East Brisbane
   
16 May 2013 10:56 AEST
Mills
keilor Dowens
Delish!!!!
My very fav salad!!!...love the dressing!!
19 Jan 2013 03:53 AEST
Mahtmuse
MN USA
Sauce
The 'sauce at the end' is the Nuoc Cham mentioned in the recipe. It is easy to make mostly lime juice and fish sauce. You can find a recipe for it at most other recipe sites. The nuoc cham really makes this salad. You may use any protein and it turns out great.
08 Dec 2012 12:31 AEST
Jenni
Madison
The sauce
What is the sauce at the end that he puts on?
26 May 2012 10:31 AEST
Tran
2166
Bun bo xao
It is yum
28 Jan 2012 09:11 AEST
thanh
kellyville 2155
bun bo xao
I can't complain, it is not bad for middle of the week.
05 Jul 2011 12:09 AEST
Helen
Las Cruces, USA
Bun Bo Xao
I finally found this salad at our first real vietnamese restaurant in town. I love it! However, I always thought the beef was grilled. Can you also grill it?
04 Jun 2011 08:48 AEST
Caitlin
Perth
Noodle Salad
Yum! Except I put in less noodles, I felt the noodle to salad ratio was going to be a bit high.
08 Dec 2010 05:19 AEST
UNG PHAM
East-Brisbane
Noodle Salad Recipe
Can't complain, it's really easy to understand. Thanks

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