The Minced pork balls with garlic and pepper | Nem nuong a pork balls are cooked over sizzling braziers at street stalls. At the end of the day, throngs of people returning home after work stop to buy them, and the stalls do a roaring trade. Most eat one skewer right on the spot, then purchase extra highly flavored pork balls to take home if they last that long. It is hard to resist delving into the small bag that they come in, as you are bustled along by the crowd.
Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons skinned
raw peanuts
1lb (450g) ground lean pork
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
7oz (200g) pork fatback
(available at a butcher)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 fresh red chiles, seeded and
finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce such
as nuoc nam
1 tablespoon crushed black
peppercorns
small handful of fresh cilantro
leaves, coarsely chopped
Nuoc cham dipping sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 fresh red chile, seeded and
finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons fish sauce such
as nuoc nam
Method:
1. Soak 12 bamboo skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes to prevent scorching. To make the dipping sauce, bring ¼ cup (60ml) water to the boil with the rice vinegar and sugar, then allow to cool. Mix in the chile, garlic, and lime juice, then stir in the fish sauce. Set aside. Dry-roast the peanuts in a heavy pan over a medium-high heat for 3–4 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the pan. When the nuts are cool, coarsely chop them. Also set aside.
2. Mix the pork with the salt and set aside. Fry the pork fatback in a heavy pan over a medium-high heat for about 10 minutes until crisp. Cut into very thin strips, then cut the strips into small dice. Marinate the strips in the sugar, garlic, chile, fish sauce, and crushed black peppercorns for 5 minutes.
3. Combine the pork and the pork fat, including any marinade, and add the cilantro. Make a small ball of the mixture, fry it in a small skillet, and taste. It should be sweet from the sugar and the fat, hot from the chile and the pepper, and salty from the fish sauce and the salt. Adjust the seasoning accordingly. Remember that the dipping sauce will be salty, hot, and sour.
4. Heat a char-grill or barbecue until very hot. Roll the mixture into small balls, and thread them onto the skewers, allowing three or four per skewer. Grill evenly on both sides for 4–5 minutes until brown on the outside and cooked all the way through.
5. Scatter the skewers with the coarsely chopped peanuts, and serve with the nuoc cham dipping sauce.
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| Minced pork balls with garlic and pepper recipe |
