Description
A traditional Vietnamese noodle bowl served with seared slices of beef seasoned with fragrant lemongrass.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the beef
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon chili paste (like sambal oelek)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons finely minced lemongrass, tender inner white bulb only
- 1 pound top round roast (or london broil), sliced against the grain into 1/8-inch thick slices
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
For the garlic hoisin sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
For serving
- Shredded carrots, lettuce, and cucumbers
- Chopped cilantro leaves
- Chopped mint leaves
- Cooked Vietnamese rice vermicelli noodles (about 8 ounces)
- Crushed peanuts
Instructions
For the beef
- Marinate beef. In a medium bowl, stir together fish sauce, honey, chili paste, garlic and lemongrass. Add sliced beef and massage seasoning into beef. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Sear beef. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. When oil is nearly smoking, add beef and quickly stir-fry until beef is lightly browned and just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Work in batches if necessary so meat browns and doesn’t steam.
For the garlic hoisin sauce
- Cook garlic. Place oil and garlic in a small saucepan. Heat oil over medium-low heat until garlic just starts to sizzle and is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir. Add hoisin sauce and water; stir to combine. Cook sauce until it is warmed through.
For serving
- Make bowls. Place desired amount of noodles, fresh vegetables, cilantro, and mint in a bowl. Top with beef. Drizzle desired amount of garlic hoisin sauce on beef and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.
Notes
- If you do not have a wok, you can use a cast iron skillet to sear the beef.
- To save time, you can cook the noodles and make the sauce while the beef marinates.
- If you prefer the traditional fish sauce based dipping sauce, you can make my recipe for nước chấm instead of making the Garlic Hoisin Sauce.
