This is a really versatile dish, we are so lucky in Australia to have so many high quality ingredients at our finger tips, very easy to swap out a lot of what is below to what ever you like. The rules are simple, dressing needs to be intense, your salad to be generous with herbs and always include a fruit element to give more texture and pops of sweetness, these can include;
green or slightly under ripe mango/pawpaw/pineapple, granny smith apple or green grapes.
Serves 6
Nuoc Cham (Dressing)
1 Red chilli (as much as you can tolerate)
1 Garlic
35ml Fish sauce (4 crab or mega chef the best brands around)
100ml water
20g Palm sugar (raw sugar will work)
2 large limes juiced
Chop garlic and chilli as fine as possible then mix all together until sugar has dissolved
If you want your dressing more sour, add more fresh lime, saltier, add more fish sauce sweeter, add more sugar. It is strong but, you only add as much as you prefer to your salad and its a fab sauce for dipping poached meats, dumplings and spring rolls into
Salad
600g cooked fish (chicken, roasted or bbq pork also works) broken into pieces
2 small pkts vermicelli noodles, soaked in very hot water for 5 minutes then drained
½ sml bunch each of Vietnamese mint, mint, thai or purple basil, coriander (washed)
1 sml bag fresh bean sprouts
2 spring onions (sliced thin)
1 continental cucumber or baby cucumbers (sliced thin)
2 green mango (sliced thin)
½ bag pork crackle/scratchings
Nuoc cham
Chop coriander and pick all herbs. Use a pair of scissors to chop the noodles a few times
When ready to serve, add all except the (pork crackle and dressing) ingredients to a large bowl, toss gently with half the dressing, add more if you prefer for more pop. Serve in a large bowl or on platter and scatter broken pork crackle over the top with more crackle and nuoc cham served separately so people can help themselves if they wish