Bò Nướng Sả

Saigon street skewers of thin-sliced beef marinated heavily in lemongrass, shallot, garlic, and fish sauce and charred over coals, eaten with rice noodles and herbs

Origin: Saigon & Southern Vietnam

From the journey of Lemongrass.

Bò nướng sả is beef grilled with lemongrass, and it is one of the smells of the Vietnamese street: thin slices of beef marinated in a paste of lemongrass, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, and sugar, threaded on skewers, and charred over charcoal until the sugar and the lemongrass catch. It is eaten as a snack from the grill, or laid over cool rice noodles with herbs, lettuce, pickled carrot and daikon, crushed peanuts, and nước chấm as bún bò nướng, or rolled in rice paper at the table. The same marinade goes onto pork and chicken, and grilled meat perfumed with lemongrass is so common in southern Vietnam that the herb is almost the definition of grilling there.

Ingredients

Beef

  • 500 g beef sirloin or flank, very thinly sliced across the grain

Marinade

  • 3 stalks of lemongrass, tender core finely minced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp sugar or honey
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 0.5 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

To Serve

  • 200 g rice vermicelli, cooked and cooled
  • Lettuce, mint, Thai basil, pickled carrot and daikon, crushed peanuts, and nước chấm

Method

  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients, add the beef, and toss well. Marinate for at least 1 hour, or overnight in the refrigerator.
  2. Thread the beef onto soaked bamboo skewers, folding each slice so it sits compact.
  3. Grill over very hot charcoal, or under a hot grill, for 2 to 3 minutes a side, until charred at the edges.
  4. Serve over the noodles with the herbs, pickles, and peanuts, and spoon over nước chấm.

Notes

Partly freezing the beef for 30 minutes makes it much easier to slice thinly.

The Gastrographer

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