Gỏi Mít

Central Vietnamese young jackfruit salad: boiled, shredded mít non tossed with pork, shrimp, and Vietnamese coriander in a sweet and sour fish-sauce dressing, scattered with peanuts and fried shallots, and scooped up with sesame rice crackers

Origin: Central Vietnam

From the journey of Jackfruit.

Gỏi mít, also called mít trộn, is the young jackfruit salad of central Vietnam: the unripe fruit, mít non, peeled under salted water, boiled, pressed dry, and pulled into shreds, then stir-fried with garlic and shallot, tossed with boiled pork and shrimp and a sweet, sour, and salty dressing of fish sauce, lime, sugar, and chilli, and finished with Vietnamese coriander, crushed peanuts, and fried shallots. It is eaten with bánh tráng mè, the thick sesame rice crackers of the region, broken into pieces and used as scoops. The oldest record of the jackfruit on this coast is Chinese. Ma Huan, the interpreter who sailed with the Ming admiral Zheng He, opened his account of the countries of the Western Ocean with Champa, the Cham kingdom that then held the coast, and described its jackfruit: like a winter melon, with a skin like a lychee's, and lumps of yellow flesh 'as big as a hen's egg, which taste like honey', each round a seed that, roasted, tasted like a chestnut. His first voyage was that of 1413. The Vietnamese took the Cham capital of Vijaya in 1471 and the rest of Champa in the centuries that followed. Vietnamese calls the fruit mít, a word that the linguist Roger Blench connects with the Lao mi and takes to be the source of the last syllable of the Chinese po-lo-mi.

Ingredients

Jackfruit

600 g young jackfruit (mít non), or 2 x 400 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained
1 tbsp salt, for the soaking water

Salad

200 g pork belly or shoulder, in one piece
200 g small shrimp, peeled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce, for the stir-fry
1 tsp sugar, for the stir-fry

Dressing

3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp warm water
1 garlic clove, minced
2 bird's eye chillies, chopped

To Finish

1 handful Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), chopped
1 handful Thai basil (húng quế), torn
40 g roasted peanuts, crushed
2 tbsp fried shallots
2 sesame rice crackers (bánh tráng mè)

Method

Stir the salt into a large bowl of water. Oil your hands and knife, cut the jackfruit into large pieces, pare away the skin and core, and drop each piece into the salted water as you go.
Boil the jackfruit for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender. Drain, press out as much water as you can, and pull or slice the flesh into thin shreds.
Simmer the pork in water for about 20 minutes, until cooked through; cool and slice it thinly. Poach the shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes, until pink.
Heat the oil and fry the garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add the jackfruit, season with the fish sauce and sugar, and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Leave to cool.
For the dressing, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, then stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and chillies.
Toss the jackfruit, pork, shrimp, and herbs with the dressing. Pile onto a plate and scatter with the peanuts and fried shallots.
Toast the rice crackers over a flame, or for about a minute in a microwave, until puffed and crisp. Break them into pieces and serve them alongside for scooping.

Notes

In the north the same kind of salad is called nộm, and a young jackfruit version is made there as nộm mít non. The salad can be dressed an hour ahead, but add the peanuts, shallots, and crackers only at the table.

The Gastrographer

Name: Gỏi Mít
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Central Vietnam
Ingredients: 600 g young jackfruit (mít non), or 2 x 400 g tins of young jackfruit in brine, drained; 1 tbsp salt, for the soaking water; 200 g pork belly or shoulder, in one piece; 200 g small shrimp, peeled; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 shallots, finely chopped; 1 tbsp fish sauce, for the stir-fry; 1 tsp sugar, for the stir-fry; 3 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tbsp lime juice; 2 tbsp sugar; 2 tbsp warm water; 1 garlic clove, minced; 2 bird's eye chillies, chopped; 1 handful Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), chopped; 1 handful Thai basil (húng quế), torn; 40 g roasted peanuts, crushed; 2 tbsp fried shallots; 2 sesame rice crackers (bánh tráng mè)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control