Ingredients
Pork and prawn balls
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 lemon grass stem, white part only, sliced
- 300 g (10½ oz) pork spareribs, skin and bones removed, cut into chunks
- 125 g (4½ oz) raw king prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined
- 1 small handful coriander (cilantro) leaves
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1.5 litres (52 fl oz/6 cups) chicken stock
- 1 lemon grass stem, white part only, sliced
- 1 small red chilli, sliced (seeded if preferred)
- 8 raw prawns (shrimp), peeled and deveined, leaving the tails intact
- 100 g (3½ oz) bean vermicelli noodles (cellophane noodles)
- 1–2 teaspoons fish sauce, to taste
- 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) lime juice
- 90 g (3¼ oz/1 cup) bean sprouts, trimmed
- 1 handful Vietnamese mint, to serve
- 1 handful coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve
Method
1. To make the pork and prawn balls, put the garlic, lemon grass and pork in a small processor fitted with the metal blade and whizz for 20–35 seconds, or until finely chopped, occasionally scraping down the side of the processor bowl. Add the prawns, coriander and fish sauce and whizz in short bursts until the prawns are chopped but still large enough to give the balls some texture. Using moistened hands, roll 2 teaspoons of mixture at a time into small balls.
2. Heat the stock in a saucepan, add the lemon grass and chilli and bring to the boil. Add the pork and prawn balls and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the prawns and noodles and simmer over low heat for 1–2 minutes, or until the prawns have a tinge of orange and are almost cooked. Add the fish sauce, to taste, and lime juice.
3. Ladle the soup into four bowls and serve the bean sprouts, Vietnamese mint and coriander on top.
