Thai-style Vietnamese Pork Skewers (Nem Nướng)
Before the pandemic, I took my husband to my hometown for the first time, in the North Eastern of Thailand. Of all the meals he had over there, what surprised him the most was “Nem Nướng.”
Initially, he was skeptical since it seemed like just a bunch of chopped fruits and veggies. But after he had his first bite, Nem Nướng is now one of our household staples. Since many people of Vietnamese descent are in the United States, the ingredients are quite easy to find!
The name Nem Nướng refers to pork sausage. However, in Thailand, Nem Nướng, as a dish, is not just the sausage itself but the whole idea of crafting a small bite of the freshly baked sausage with leafy greens, plenty of herbs 🌿, different condiments that bring different flavors, top with miso-peanut based sauce, and then wrapped everything together in a basket of softened rice paper. You can think of it as a fresh-roll version of hand-rolled sushi.
This dish can be dissected into four parts. 1) wrapper, 2) yakumi (natural condiments), 3) sausage, and 4) sauce.
Wrapper:
Leafy greens such as Green leaf or Red leaf lettuce
Piper sarmentosum leaf (ใบชะพลู)- optional
Small rice paper or standard size cut into 2-4 pieces (cut with kitchen scissors when dry)
Yakumi (natural condiments):
Slightly ripe mango (for sweetness and sourness; can be substituted with green apple)
Green banana (for astringent taste)
Cucumber (for refreshing taste)
Thai chili pepper (for spiciness)
Garlic
Herb
Mint
Thai basil/Sweet basil
Persicaria odorata (Vietnamese coriander or laksa leaf)
Sausage:
Ground pork
Seasoning sauce (Maggi or Golden Mt.)
White peppercorn
Garlic
Salt
Cilantro roots (or cilantro stem)
Sauce (traditional way):
Mashed glutinous rice (cooked)
Mashed mung bean (cooked)
Thai Fermented bean paste (เต้าเจี้ยว) can be replaced by red miso
Thai sweet soy sauce (hoisin sauce can also be used)
Thai chili pepper (to taste)
Salt
Palm sugar or granulated sugar
Tamarind juice
Roasted peanuts
Sauce (the easy way):
Peanut butter (no sugar added)
Red miso
Thai sweet soy sauce
Agave nectar (or granulated sugar)
Sriracha
Boiled water
It's a refreshing dish with plenty of healthy ingredients and is best enjoyed in a group setting. Opt for ground chicken breast instead of ground pork and omit the rice paper wrapper for a high-protein version of the dish.
Thai-style Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers (Nem Nuong)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Soak leafy greens, herbs, and fruits in a baking soda-cold water solution in a big bowl or clean sink.
- Wait for at least 15 minutes before rinsing thoroughly.
- Let dry while working on the other steps.
- Pre-heat convection oven to 310F
- Separate and soak disposable bamboo chopsticks in water (preferably the thicker ones)
- Peel and chop garlic
- Chop cilantro stems into 1/8-inch-long pieces
- Crush chopped garlic and cilantro stems with a mortar and pestle (do not need to go overboard, this is only for fragrant forming)
- Add white peppercorn to the mortar and continue crushing
- Transfer the ingredients in a mortar to a food processor/blender, and add seasoning sauce and salt. Blean until a smooth paste consistency is formed.
- Mix the paste from 5. with ground pork in a mixing bowl.
- Use wet hands to shape the mixed ingredients into meatballs (1 inch)
- Skew meatball to single chopstick from step 1.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until internal temperature reach 155F.
- Air dry outside to cool down
- Traditional way: Mix all ingredients with a hand blender (leave out half of the roasted peanut for topping), boil over the stovetop on low heat, stir to prevent burning, and add a tablespoon of water if the sauce gets too sticky. Let cool
- The easy way: Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve. (Please use the easy-way ingredient list, the traditional ingredient list requires blending and boiling)
- Peel and cut the mango into lengthwise strips.
- Cut green banana and cucumber into half lengthwise, then into another half lengthwise.
- Slice through the length of the mango, green banana, and cucumber strips from step 1. and 2. into 1/8-inch thick slices.
- Slice Thai chili pepper garlic into small pieces.
- Serve everything in separate bowls.
- Prepare a deep plate with room-temperature water
- Soak the small/cut rice paper in the water for 3-4 seconds.
- Leave the soaked paper on a small plate (your plate)
- Layering ingredients onto the paper, commonly, by this order, leafy green, herbs, pork sausage, 1-2 pieces of each natural condiment (garlic, cucumber, chili pepper, green banana, and so on)
- While you are layering the ingredients, the rice paper should have softened. Grab everything into your palm, add a 1/2 tbsp of the sauce, wrap everything up in a small bite, and enjoy.
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