1lbof dried rice vermicelli noodlessoaked until soft in water
Few fresh lettuce leavescut into long strips
1cupof fresh mint leaves
Large bunch of cilantro leaves
1cupof chopped roasted peanuts
2Tbspof grape seeds oil or oil of your choice
Lemongrass pork:
2lbsboneless pork loin
1stalk of lemongrass
5clovesof garlicfinely minced
2Tbspof ground coriander seedsketumbar
3Tbspof grape seeds oil or oil of your choice
1 ½Tbsptable salt
2Tbspof honey or more
Kitchen twine to secure the pork
Flavored fish sauce:
½cupgood-quality fish sauce
½cupsugar
¼cupdistilled white vinegar
2clovesgarlicfinely minced
2red Thai chilisstemmed and finely chopped
Pickled carrots:
1large carrotpeeled and finely julienned carrots
¼cupdistilled white vinegar
Small pinch of table salt
¼cupsugar
Instructions
Preparing the lemongrass pork (prepare one day before):
Trim off the bottom woody and upper woody part of lemongrass. Peel off few outer layers and then finely sliced into rings. Run your knife again through the rings to finely minced them. Set aside.
Mix the chopped lemongrass with garlic, coriander seed, salt, and oil to form a thick paste for marinading the pork. Place the pork on a clean chopping board and run your knife from one end of the loin and make a cut cross-wise and continue until the other end of the loin. So, the meat should open up like a book, but you're not cutting them into half, just splitting it open. Use a meat mallet or heavy object to gently pound on the pork so they spread out thinner, but don't break the meat apart. Spread the marinade paste you prepared earlier on the meat. Gently roll the pork into a long cylinder. Use a kitchen twine to secure the meat. Place this on a rimmed baking sheet. Wrap with plastic wrap and let it marinade in the refrigerator over night
When ready to cook the meat, get the meat out of the refrigerator to let it reach room temperature before roasting. Brush the pork with some honey. Preheat the oven to 325 F and roast the pork for about 1 1/2 hours or until pork is cooked through. When it's cooked, cover with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing the pork
Preparing the noodles and pickled carrots:
Mix all the ingredients for pickled carrots in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes before using and then drain off the liquid, we're just using the pickled carrots here
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until it is soft, but not mushy, about 2-3 minutes. Drain off water and toss with some oil. Get individual serving bowl out. Portion the noodles out. Place some shredded lettuce, mints, pickled carrots, cilantro leaves and slices of pork on top of the noodles. Topped with some peanuts. Have the diners drizzle the flavored fish sauce on the noodle, they can add more or less as they wish