Nem Lui Hue

Ingredients

• 600 g minced pork, about 20 percent fat
• 100 g pork back fat, finely diced
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp toasted rice powder (thinh)
• 12 thick lemongrass stalks, trimmed to 15 cm
• 2 tbsp neutral oil for brushing
• 100 g roasted peanuts, finely ground
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp fermented soybean paste (tuong) or extra hoisin
• 150 ml pork or chicken stock
• 1 tbsp glutinous rice flour mixed with 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp chilli paste
• 1 packet round rice paper wrappers
• 1 head soft lettuce
• 1 large handful mint, perilla and cilantro
• 1 green banana, thinly sliced
• 1 star fruit, thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, cut into batons
• 200 g cooked rice vermicelli

Before you cook

• Put the minced pork in a bowl with the diced back fat, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, sugar, salt, black pepper and baking powder.
• Knead and slap the mixture against the side of the bowl for 5 minutes until it turns sticky and pale.
• Cover the bowl and chill the pork paste for 1 hour so it firms up and the baking powder does its work.
• Trim the lemongrass stalks to 15 cm and bruise the thick end of each with the back of a knife.
• Wash the lettuce, pick the herbs and slice the green banana, star fruit and cucumber.

Steps

1. Take the pork paste out of the fridge and work the toasted rice powder through it.
2. Wet your hands with cold water so the paste does not stick.
3. Take a heaped tablespoon of paste and mould it around the middle of a lemongrass stalk into a sausage about 10 cm long.
4. Repeat until you have twelve skewers, wetting your hands again whenever they get sticky.
5. Heat a charcoal grill until the coals are covered in grey ash, or heat a ridged griddle pan over medium-high heat.
6. Brush the skewers all over with the 2 tbsp of oil.
7. Grill the skewers for 4 minutes on the first side without moving them.
8. Turn the skewers and grill for another 4 minutes until charred in patches and firm to the touch.
9. Move them to the cooler part of the grill for 2 more minutes to cook through, then keep them warm.
10. Warm the 150 ml of stock in a small pan over medium heat.
11. Whisk in the hoisin, the fermented soybean paste and the chilli paste.
12. Stir in three quarters of the ground peanuts and simmer for 3 minutes.
13. Pour in the glutinous rice flour slurry and stir for 1 minute until the sauce thickens to the texture of pouring custard.
14. Pour the sauce into bowls and top it with the remaining ground peanuts.
15. Arrange the lettuce, herbs, green banana, star fruit, cucumber and vermicelli on a large platter.
16. Set out the rice paper wrappers with a shallow bowl of warm water for dipping.
17. Bring the hot skewers to the table and show everyone how to soften a wrapper, load it with herbs, slide the pork off its stalk and roll it up.
18. Serve at once so the pork is still hot inside the rolls.