Vietnamese BBQ pork kebabs with nuoc cham dipping sauce

LITTLE PORK KEBABS THAT ARE A BBQ MUST.

Cheap to make, super juicy, full of asian flavour and very easy to put together. Make more of them than you think you’ll need – I promise you they’ll all be scoffed.

The secret to these beauties is to pack them full to the brim with the fresh ingredients, to use good quality pork mince that contains a decent amount of fat, and as I mention in my miso ginger BBQ chicken recipe, to BBQ with the lid on.

Hot off the coals they’re then ready to be either dipped into or doused in the chilled Vietnamese dipping sauce, nuoc cham. It’s a Viet staple that brings together sweet, salty, spicy and sour and is the perfect finish to the juicy charred meat. And when BBQ season is over you can still enjoy these kebabs by either roasting or pan frying them without their skewers.

For the kebabs
This mix will make between 10 and 12

• 600g minced pork - mine was minced shoulder from Frosts butchers in Chorlton, and was just excellent – his twitter is @frostybutcher
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 teaspoon sriracha {buy here}
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 fat spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 x 2" piece of ginger, peeled
• A handful each fresh mint and coriander
• A handful breadcrumbs (not usually an addition to meatballs/burgers/kebabs for me, but without them the mix will be too soft and therefore difficult to BBQ)
• A little frying oil for coating the kebabs before BBQing

For the dipping sauce (nuoc cham)

• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 50mls warm water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 x 1" piece of ginger, minced
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 a red chilli if you like it spicy (I left the chilli out of ours and it was still delicious)

For the salad

• 1/4 of a white cabbage, sliced thinly on either a mandolin or in your food processor
• A few radishes, sliced thinly on the mandolin
• 1 carrot, finely grated
• A couple of handfuls of bean sprouts
• 2 spring onions, finely cut
• A little fresh mint and coriander, finely cut

Method

1. Start with the dipping sauce. Into a jar or sealable container place the warm water and sugar, and shake until it’s dissolved. Then add in the other ingredients and shake together. Pop the sealed container it into the fridge until later.
2. If you’re using bamboo skewers, now is the time to get them soaked in water.
3. Take the ingredients for the kebabs apart from the meat and blitz in a food processor, then add the minced pork and blitz again until all combined. Form the mixture into the oval shaped kebabs trying to make them the same size as each other.
4. Combine the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
5. Skewer the kebabs 2 a piece on the skewers, and using your hands, coat each kebab lightly in frying oil so they don’t stick to the bars.
6. BBQ them for 15 minutes in total, turning them a few times and cooking them with the lid of the BBQ on.
7. Eat hot off the coals with the chilled dipping sauce and salad – and try to share them.

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