Lemongrass Shrimp Vermicelli Bowls

 

Fresh, fresh, and more fresh! Vietnamese vermicelli bowls are layer upon layer of freshness. You start with chewy tender rice noodles, covered over with with crunchy fresh veggies and herbs, and topped off with some tasty seared and salty meat, shrimp or tofu. The finishing touch is always the light bright lime/sugar/fish sauce sauce! The combinations are endless as long as you stick to this formula.

In the following recipe, we’ll work through a version with shrimp marinated in lemongrass. I’ve sauteed the shrimp here for simplicity, but you could also grill it if you have a grill nearby!

Follow along on the road to fresh!

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

• 12 shrimp
• rice vermicelli
• 4-6 leaves of romaine lettuce
• 1 cucumber
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 block of firm tofu
• Vietnamese Nuoc Cham
• 3 TB minced lemongrass
• 2 tsp chili sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• Bunch of fresh basil, cilantro

Steps:

1. Peel & devein the shrimp (EZ Peel shrimp make this soooo easy!!!)

2. Marinate the shrimp in the minced lemongrass, chili sauce, salt

3. Boil up the noodles. They are done when you can pinch a noodle in between your index finger & thumb and it breaks easily.

4. Chop up the lettuce. Slice the cucmber into thick matchsticks. Grate the carrots. Slice the tofu.

5. Make the nuoc cham.

6. Drain the noodles when they are done. Make sure to rinse a few times in cold water.

7. Heat up a pan with some olive oil. Once it’s just about smoking, cook the tofu with some garlic salt & pepper until browned on each side. Set aside.

8. Toss in the shrimp and quickly cook for about 5 minutes or so until the shrimp just about lose their translucence.

9. Build your bowls. Place some noodles in the bottom. Top with some lettuce, cucumber, carrot, tofu, shrimp, and fresh herbs. Serve with the nuoc cham.

10. To eat, pour the nuoc cham sauce over the bowl and toss everything together! Devour!