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A vermicelli bowl with golden lemongrass tofu, pickled carrot, cucumber, herbs and a dish of dipping sauce
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Main Vietnamese Southeast Asian Vegan Vegetarian

Lemongrass Tofu Vermicelli Bowl

Bún đậu hũ sả, the vegetarian Vietnamese noodle bowl of golden tofu glazed with lemongrass, garlic and chili over cool vermicelli, herbs and quick-pickled carrot, dressed with nước chấm chay, the soy-based sauce that is its own thing in Vietnamese vegetarian cooking rather than an imitation of fish sauce. The tofu is browned hard and separately before it ever meets the aromatics, since tofu that steams in the pan with onions never crisps, while tofu given its own hot oil takes on edges that hold the glaze.

Prep30 min
Cook15 min
Rest20 min
Servings4
Cook mode

Adapted from The Viet Vegan's lemongrass tofu vermicelli bowl and her nước chấm chay, with the tofu handled by the house rule, torn rough and browned separately.

Ingredients

Written for a 28 cm pan

Units
Temperature
Servings
4

Lemongrass tofu

  • 450 g firm tofu, pressed dry and torn by hand into rough bite-size pieces, or 400 g ready-fried tofu in strips
  • 30 ml neutral oil
  • 1 onion, diced; or 2 shallots
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layers removed, finely chopped; or 50 g frozen chopped lemongrass
  • 1 g dried chili flakes
  • 30 ml soy sauce, start here and add more to taste

Nước chấm chay

  • 60 ml soy sauce
  • 155 ml hot water
  • 50 g sugar
  • 45 ml lime juice, from about 1 large lime
  • 2 garlic cloves, mashed or finely minced
  • 5 g chili paste, such as sambal oelek, or 1 fresh red chili mashed with a little of the sugar

Quick-pickled carrot

  • 150 g carrot, julienned
  • 45 ml rice vinegar
  • 15 g sugar
  • 2 g fine salt

Bowls

  • 300 g dried rice vermicelli
  • 200 g lettuce, chopped
  • 200 g cucumber, julienned or in half moons
  • 150 g bean sprouts, blanched 3 minutes or left fresh
  • 10 g cilantro, chopped

Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.

Method

  1. Pickle the carrot first. Toss the julienned carrot with the rice vinegar, sugar and salt and set aside; 20 minutes is enough, and it keeps for a week refrigerated.
  2. Make the nước chấm chay. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water, then stir in the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and chili paste. Taste on a piece of lettuce; it should be light, sweet-sour and clearly less salty than straight soy sauce. Set aside.
  3. Cook the vermicelli. Boil the noodles for 5 to 6 minutes until tender and chewy, drain, rinse cold, then let them drain properly in the colander, laid out loosely so they do not set into a block. Overcooked or wet noodles are the two ways this bowl goes watery.
  4. Brown the tofu alone. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the torn tofu in one layer and leave it alone until the undersides are deep golden, then turn and brown the other sides. Ready-fried tofu only needs re-crisping. Move it to a plate.
  5. Cook the aromatics. In the same pan, cook the onion until translucent, then the garlic, lemongrass and chili flakes for 2 to 3 minutes, until the lemongrass smells sweet and toasted rather than grassy.
  6. Glaze. Return the tofu, add the soy sauce, and toss just long enough for everything to cling to the rough edges of the tofu. Taste and add more soy if it needs it.
  7. Assemble. Noodles in the base of each bowl, lettuce, cucumber, sprouts, pickled carrot and cilantro in piles, tofu on top while still warm. Dress generously with nước chấm chay at the table and toss before eating.

Notes

  • Tear the tofu, do not cube it. Rough torn surfaces brown deeper and give the glaze and dressing something to grip; smooth cubes shrug both off. This is the house rule for sauced tofu and this dish is a textbook case for it.
  • Nước chấm chay is not fake fish sauce. It is the standard sauce of Vietnamese Buddhist vegetarian cooking, lighter and rounder than fish-sauce nước chấm. Treat it as its own thing and it never disappoints; compare it to the original and you are asking a different question.
  • Ready-fried tofu is the honest shortcut. Asian grocers in Germany and Canada sell it refrigerated or frozen; it skips the pressing and the first browning entirely and takes the glaze beautifully.
  • The chicken sibling is lemongrass chicken vermicelli bowl. Same architecture, different protein and dressing; between them they cover almost any table.

Ingredient substitutions

  • Lemongrass works fresh or frozen-chopped, as in the chicken sibling; dried never softens and does not belong here.
  • Chili paste can be sambal oelek, a mashed fresh chili, or sriracha at a push; sriracha brings vinegar and garlic of its own, so cut the added garlic back.
  • Golden Mountain or Maggi seasoning sauce in place of some of the soy in the nước chấm chay is closer to how many Vietnamese kitchens make it, a little rounder and more savoury; plain soy is entirely fine.

Sources consulted

Good with

Sources consulted

From Christoph Mayer

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