Garnishes that you can put on your bun (pronounced "boon")

I know that nobody wants to eat cold noodle salad now that it’s fall, but I figured, it’s never too late for people to embrace bun tom nuong.

Bun is exactly like pho, but without the soup broth over the rice noodles. The garnishes are the same, too: cucumbers, carrots, coriander, peanuts, bean sprouts, eggs, lime and whatever meat you have on hand. In this case, we’ll use shrimp.

The refreshing dressing that marries all the flavors together would be nuoc cham, a fish sauce-lime concoction that seems scary-pungent at first, but once it’s tossed with all the other ingredients, it transforms into something so addictive that you’ll want to drink the leftovers from the bowl once all the noodles are gone.

Recipe after the jump.

Recipe:

-8 medium-size cooked peeled shrimp (You can get an authentic marinade for the dish here, but if you’re lazy like I am, toss the shrimp in some Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce and chopped scallions and call it a day.)

-1 package of rice vermicelli noodles, boiled and drained

Garnishes:
-1/2 c fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
-1/2 c peanuts, roughly chopped
-2 eggs, boiled and sliced
-1 carrot, grated or julienne
-2 handfuls of mung bean sprouts
-2 scallions, chopped
-1/2 c romaine lettuce, chopped into small pieces
-3 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly and deep fried till golden brown

Nuoc cham dressing:

-2 tbs sugar (add more to taste)
-1/3 c fish sauce
-1/2 c lime juice
-1 Thai chili pepper, minced
-2 tbs water (add more to taste)
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 shallot, minced

Marinate and cook shrimp. Whisk together nuoc cham ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes. Prep garnishes.

Get two large bowls. Divide rice noodles into each bowl. Arrange a bit of lettuce, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers and shrimp on top. Sprinkle on the remaining garnishes. Add about 1/2 c of nuoc cham on top. Serve immediately.

We actually used tofu instead of shrimp, but you can do whatever.