"You too can eat Banh Xeo in 4 simple steps!"

For this salad I combined 3 cups of cooked jasmine rice, 2 shredded chicken breasts that I had poached in chicken broth with a few thin slices of ginger, and about a cup of chopped sheep sorrel. I topped it with a few tablespoons of crunchy peanuts.

I served it with nước chấm on the side from the recipe in Corinne Tran’s book: Authentic Vietnamese Cooking, Food from a Family Table. It is available online on Food Network’s page as well (link below). The sauce is hot, sour, sweet , and salty; made with fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, sugar, and chilis.

Nước chấm may be a condiment, but I still claim it as one of my favorite foods—I don’t know how many batches I make in the spring and summer when I crave Vietnamese food with all its fresh herbs and vegetables. Corinne Tran’s is my favorite of the many recipes I have tried over the years.

In Vietnamese cooking cultivated sorrel is called rau chua and is often served has a table herb. Sheep sorrel is considered an acceptable substitute for cultivated sorrel as both share a similar sharp, acidic, citrusy flavor that is often used in salads, soups, and sauces.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nuoc-cham-fish-dipping-sauce-1954403.amp

Any chance of a recipe for the vermicelli and chicken salad please?

Of course - as much as I am able to (not usually using recipes myself...) Briefly: 

Salad: In the simplest form, just vermicelli, green salad, carrot, coriander and chicken - optional extras include onion, chilli, sliced ginger and roasted peanuts

pour boiling water on top of vermicelli, stand 5 min, drain

shred crunchy salad green (such as iceberg lettuce, especially inner parts) into thin shreds

grate carrot coarsely 

shred cooked chicken into pieces

add roughly chopped coriander

slice red chilli and/or ginger into thin slices (chilli can be mild or hot or both)

slice red onion into thin wedges

mix -  add peanuts

Dressing: There are myriad of recipes for Nuoc Cham, and for example this and this look quite OK. In practice, on a busy weekday evening I just do this:

chop coriander roots and stems

chop red chilli (hot)

chop garlic 

pound all above with a mortar and pestle (or crush or crunch by any means to bruise and smash them)

add squeezed juice of 1 lime

add sugar until quite sweet (palm sugar if you have, but white sugar or even Splenda is OK)(Splenda dissolves immediately, with sugar you may have to first dissolve it in some hot water) 

add splashes of fish sauce until suitably salty

add a bit more water

I know - no amounts! Not how many, what weight, what volume... 😳Until it’s enough??? For the dressing, the links give some notions at least...

Below an image of the dish, except this version was made with fine slices of flash-fried kangaroo meat instead of chicken.

Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham / Nuoc Mam)

A quick and easy recipe for Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham / Nuoc Mam) made with fish sauce with a balance of sweet, sour and salty flavors.