Ingredients

FOR THE GRILLED PORK:
• 2 lb pork shoulder, sliced thinly
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons grated onion
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
FOR THE PICKLED VEGGIES:
• 1 medium-sized carrot, julienned
• 1 small daikon, julienned
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup white vinegar or rice vinegar
FOR THE FISH SAUCE:
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Red chili flakes to taste
TO ASSEMBLE:
• 1 package rice vermicelli
• Bean sprouts
• cilantro
• mint
• basil
• 1 head lettuce

Instructions

FOR THE GRILLED PORK:
1. Slice the pork as thin as possible. Mix it together with the rest of the ingredients and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking. If you are letting it sit for awhile, cover it and put it in the refrigerator.
2. When you are ready to cook, take the meat out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Drizzle your wok, or large pan, with some vegetable oil and place it on medium-high heat. Place the meat and all of the marinade into the pan. To get a nice brown crust, it is important to let it cook without disturbing it within the first 5-8 minutes. Once the first side is done, flip and brown the other side. Saute until the juices evaporate and the meat is lightly charred.
FOR THE PICKLED VEGGIES:
3. Next up, let's make our pickled veggie garnish (do chua). Julienne or coarsely shred the vegetables. Spread them out in a shallow bowl, and sprinkle with sugar. Add the pinch of salt. Then pour enough vinegar to submerge about half the vegetables. If you are eating this right away, use rice vinegar for a lighter taste. If you intend to store these as pickles, then ordinary white vinegar is fine.
4. After about 15 minutes or so, stir the vegetables so the vinegar is mixed. The carrots and daikon should be lightly pickled after about half an hour. Store extra pickles and vinegar in a glass jar. Add enough vinegar to fill the jar halfway and fill up the rest with water. Store the jar in the refrigerator.
FOR THE FISH SAUCE:
5. Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc cham) is pungent stuff, so open your windows and turn on the vent. Place a saucepan over low heat and mix together sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, fish sauce, and water. Add the minced chili and garlic. Save extra sauce in a glass jar in the fridge; it should last for a long time.
FOR THE RICE NOODLES:
6. These thin rice noodles should be marked “Bean Thread.” They come in little bundles within a package. I used the whole package. Boil the noodles and drain them in a colander. Here's a neat trick I learned from Wandering Chopsticks: place a bowl, turned upside down in your colander before pouring in the noodles to help prevent clumping. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
TO ASSEMBLE:
7. Wash the bean sprouts. Pluck and wash the herbs. (If I had to pick one vital herb out of the three, I would say mint. Sometimes you don’t want to buy 3 things of fresh herbs…I understand.)
8. Separate lettuce leaves and wash.
9. Go family style, and place all the ingredients on platters in the middle of the table. Present each diner with their own little bowl of the nuoc cham dipping sauce. Take a big leafy piece of lettuce, pluck some cilantro, mint and basil and place inside. Dunk a handful of noodles in the dipping sauce, and make a little bed on the lettuce. Pile on a few pieces of pork, top with a little pickled carrots, daikon, and bean sprouts. Wrap it all up, and into your mouth it goes!

Notes