Authentic Vietnamese Bun Bi
Vietnamese Bun Bi (which is also known as Bi Heo) is an absolutely delicious recipe made with shredded pork skin, roasted pork and accompanied by nuoc mam and fresh vegetables topped over vermicelli noodles.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 bag of frozen, cooked shredded pork skin
- 1 pound of pork belly
- 1 bag of ground roasted rice called "thinh" (you can make your own using this my authetnic roasted rice recipe)
- cup of vinegar
- cup of white cooking wine
- 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tablespoons of minced garlic
- 3 tablespoon of roasted rice powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- mint
- cucumber, sliced narrowly
- cilantro
- sprouts
Instructions
- 1
Thaw and Prepare Frozen Pork Skin - Defrost the frozen pork skin, rinse well under cold water. Next, soak the dethawed frozen pork skin in the vinegar and cooking wine in order to get rid of the smell of the skin. Soak it for about 15 minutes. Rinse it again. I would recommend using a salad spinner to ensure that the pork skin is completely dry.
- 2
Boil the Pork Belly - In a medium pot, fill the water enough so that it will cover up the pork belly. Bring the water to a boil, add the pork belly into the pot. Add a 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. Boil it for about 45 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Pork belly provides a very much flavorful taste to this dish.
- 3
Sear the Pork Belly - Remove the pork belly from the pot. Using a paper towel, pat it down completely dry. Next, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a pan and add the pork belly. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side until all sides are brown. Remove from the pan and let it cool. Once cool, cut it into 1/4 inch to 1 inch strips of pork.
- 4
Cook the Pork Skin - In the same frying pan, add an additional tablespoon of cooking oil. Add in the minced garlic and allow it to turn golden. Next, remove it from heat and combine the pork skin and sliced pork belly.
- 5
Prepare the Pork Skin and Pork Belly Together - In the frying pan, add in pork belly and the pork skin and combine them thoroughly together. They key to do this dish is both the pork skin AND the rice powder. Add three tablespoons of roasted rice powder and mix it in thoroughly. Roasted rice powder is one of the secret ingredients in many asian dishes from Vietnamese to Lao foods that cannot be overlooked. The rice powder provides texture that can't compete with any other spice. A little rice powder can go a long way.
- 6
Season with salt and pepper, adjust the seasoning based on your personal preference.
- 7
Prepare the vermicelli noodles based on package instructions. Make the nuoc mam to set aside along with the dish. Prepare the mint, cucumber, sprouts and cilantro to set next to the dish.
- 8
Serve and eat!