Vietnamese Noodle Bowls
Vietnamese Noodle Bowls
So, I've been on a bit of a Vietnamese kick recently. Thankfully, the amazingly delicious, hole-in-the-wall spot not too terribly far from me delivers with Door Dash, so I can have tasty Bahn Mi, delicious noodle bowls, and yummy pho with the click of a button. Buuuuttt....that can get pricey very quickly, so I've been experimenting with some Pinterest recipes the last few weeks.
I've tried some winners, and this week, I set out to make my own meatless version for my lunches for the week. I don't know about you, but I don't love meal prepping meat for my lunches. Somehow, by the time Friday rolls around, the meat can be a bit...iffy, shall we say. So, I needed a yummy version full of vegetables and kick without meat. This was perfect.
What I came up with is a good blend of this recipe for Vietnamese Bun by the Gourmet Housewife, this one by The Joyous Apron, this recipe for 4-ingredient Vermicelli Chili Oil Noodles, and some ideas from this Tik Tok craze. (Although after living for ten years in Memphis, the idea of rinsing ANYTHING in water from the Mississippi River is downright laughable.)
The result is my own spin on the Vietnamese Noodle Bowl. Yes, it looks like a ton of ingredients. What can I say? I love a well-developed, complex flavor profile, and I love sauce! Just look at all that yummy goodness! ( I also do not love posts that take waaaayyyy too long to get to the good stuff, so without further ado, here's what you need and what to do so you can be enjoying these yummy noodle bowls tonight!)
You will need:
Vermicelli Noodles (I prefer rice or sweet potato)
1/2 English cucumber, julienned
1 bunch of green onion - chopped and separated
1 Broccoli crown - chopped into small bites
2 cups of julienned or shredded carrots
1/2 - 3/4 cups of crushed peanuts
Vegetable oil
Sauce for Noodles:
4 Tbsp. chili oil
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. Sambal Oelek (Garlic Chili Paste/Sauce)
2 tsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. ponzu sauce
1 - 2 tsp. fish sauce
Garlic powder and onion powder - to taste
Nuoc Cham:
1 1/4 cups water
5-7 Tbsp. white sugar, depending on your sweetness preference
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
5 cloves minced garlic
Red pepper flakes - to taste
Directions:
1. Start by chopping everything. Julienne the cucumber and carrots. Chop the green onion, keeping the white and green parts separate. Chop the broccoli. Roughly chop the cilantro.
2. Crush the peanuts. You can use a food processor, or you can throw them in a quart sized zipper bag and roll them with a rolling pin, crush them with the bottom of your glass measuring cup, whatever works for you!
3. Make the Nuoc Cham sauce. Combine the water, sugar, fish sauce, and vinegar in a small saucepan and heat through until the sugar has completely dissolved. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and heat another 1-3 minutes, just until the garlic becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Cook the vermicelli noodles according to the package and your preference. If you like your noodles chewier, reduce the cook time slightly; if you like them softer, increase it. Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
5. In the same pot, heat 1-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil. Then add the whites of the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes, just until fragrant.
6. Add the broccoli and carrots to the pot and cook to desired tenderness, stirring occasionally. I like mine al dente, which takes about 5-6 minutes. Place the cooked vegetables in a bowl and set them to the side.
7. Reduce the heat on the pan to very low to make the sauce, and I do mean very low. Add the chili oil, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, ponzu sauce, Sambal Oelek, and fish sauce to the pan and stir. Add garlic powder and onion powder and stir. (I added about a teaspoon of onion powder and about two teaspoons of garlic powder.). Once the sauce is combined, turn off heat and allow to cool slightly. The oyster sauce might be a bit clumpy, but that's okay.
8. Add noodles to sauce and mix well. I mixed it with my hands so that I could make sure that every noodle was covered. I also didn't use all of the noodles because I wanted mine to be a bit saucy, so add more noodles or less depending on your sauciness preference.
9. Add in cooked vegetables and stir to combine.
10. Stir in cucumbers and cilantro.
11. Plate into noodle bowls or meal prep containers. (I use tongs to serve mine.)
12. Garnish with green onions and peanuts and a healthy drizzle of Nuoc Cham sauce. You may also elect to serve with soy sauce, sriracha, or chili oil.
13. Enjoy!
These noodle bowls will keep for 3-5 days in the refrigerator in airtight containers. The Nuoc Cham sauce will keep for four weeks in the refrigerator in a Mason jar, but I bet you'll eat it before then. It's soooo tasty!
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