Vietnamese Bún Tầm Bì Recipe

7/11/24: Visiting Mom in Texas and she is showing me how to cook Bún Tầm Bì while I take notes and snap pictures to help me remember how to cook it when I get home. Bún tầm bì is a southern regional Vietnamese noodle dish.

Note: This is an observational recipe I am documenting and will need to edit it once I test it in my kitchen. Measurements of sauces are based on my mom’s eyeballing skill so I will have to measure it later.

Serving: 8-10 bowls
Prep time: The more people to help, the faster you will get down is all I have to say. 😂

Ingredients: measurements to be updated

1 4-oz dried shredded pork skin (bì khô)
2.5 lb pork butt
2 bags bánh canh gạo
garlic cloves
1 can 14 oz Savoy coconut milk
1 cup coconut water
sugar
salt
cooking wine
black pepper
scallion
cucumbers
spearmint
Thai basil
bean sprouts
Vegetable oil

Direction:

Step 1. Prep the Sweet and Sour Fish Sauce I have published recipe for this already.

Step 2. Prep the Creamy Coconut Milk Mixture

In a small pot on medium low heat, mix in one can coconut milk, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon tapioca starch, 1/8 teaspoon salt.
Stir and cook on medium-low heat until mixture starts simmering.

Step 3: Prep the Dried Shredded Pork Skin (Bì Khô)

Mom soaked 2/3 of the 4-ounce bag of shredded pork skin in luke warm water with 1/4th teaspoon salt for about one hour. Then strain the pork rind into colander. Cover and refrigerate.

Step 4: Prep the Bánh Canh Noodles

Today, mom is using tapioca noodles. She boils water and then placed the frozen block of bánh canh into the boiling water on high heat. Let it sit in the boiling water until the noodles slowly comes apart. Do NOT stir it or else you will break the noodles into pieces. Strain the noodles into colander once it’s cooked. Tapioca should not be too chewy or too mushy.

Step 5: Prep and Cook the Pork Shoulder

I feel that this is the most important step for a delicious bún tầm bì.

Set aside five garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. Mom rubbed the meat with salt and cooking wine for about 15 minutes. Then rinse the meat. Strain. Just don’t ask me why.

In a wok, heat up about 3 inches of oil. Add in the garlic cloves and the pork shoulder. Fry on each side for about 10 minutes. Scoop out the garlic cloves when it turns golden. Then take out the pork shoulder. The meat is not fully cooked yet. (Reserve 1 teaspoon of oil in the wok and pour the remaining oil into a bowl and set aside to use for the scallion oil later. Minced the fried garlic cloves for later use.)

Prepare the khìa sauce by mixing the following into a bowl: Measurement is based on mom’s eyeballing measurement so I will have to test and adjust measurement in my kitchen.

2 teaspoon Viet Huong fish sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup coconut water

Put the meat back into the wok along with the khìa sauce. Continue cooking the pork on medium heat with lid covered for about ten minutes. Then remove the lid. Caramelized the meat by simmering on low heat. Cook the meat on each side for about seven minutes.

Remove the meat and set aside. Let the wok cool down with the leftover caramelized stickiness for later use.

Step 6. Prep the Scallion Oil

Mom used the reserved oil from the fried pork meat to make this scallion oil.

Step 7. Prepping the Thính

Thính is roasted rice in grounded form. Roast the jasmine rice and grind it into powder. Mom cheated her way out by using the bagged Thính.

Step 8. Combining the pork and pork skin together

Cut the refrigerated shredded pork skin with scissors. Mix in the minced roasted garlic. Slice the pork shoulder into thin strips. Mix the meat into the pork skin mixture. Pour the mixture into the cooled down wok with the sticky sauce. Sprinkle in the roasted rice powder. Mix it all up and transfer and store it in a bowl or container until ready to eat.