Nem Chua - Vietnamese Fermented Meat

making your own charcuterie in 24 hours?! That’s crazy

The algorithm gods have brought me to some pretty interesting corners of the internet, including how to make dishes I’ve never even heard of before. One of them was Nem Chua, a Vietnamese fermented meat snack that immediately caught my attention.

Traditional Nem Chua is usually made with minced pork, seasonings and a curing/fermentation mixture, often with shredded pork skin mixed through for that slightly chewy texture. It’s then left to ferment, which gives it its signature sour, tangy flavour and that surprisingly vibrant pink colour. It’s commonly eaten with garlic, chilli and sometimes herbs — basically a Vietnamese cold cut, except it’s fermented rather than cooked.

And as someone who loves cold cuts, raw-ish things and food that looks slightly questionable, I obviously had to make it.

The only problem was the pork.

So for my halal version, I swapped it out for good-quality minced beef, making sure there is no tough sinew in the mince (trust me you don’t want random bits of connective tissue stuck in between your teeth)

The pork skin was a little trickier. I wanted that extra bit of texture, but obviously pork skin was out. So I tried tang hoon, or glass noodles, instead.

After mixing everything together, I packed the meat into a ziplock bag and let it ferment according to the curing mix instructions. Now this is where things get a little crazy: the beef starts off looking oxidised and brown, but after fermentation, it turns this incredibly vibrant pink.

Once fermented for 24 hours, I portioned them up and wrapped each piece with garlic, cili padi and laksa leaves — the way Nem Chua is commonly enjoyed.

The result? Sour, savoury, garlicky, spicy and moreish. Now obviously I’ve never tried OG Nem Chua but visually, it looks pretty damn close (I’m thinking if I should get my Vietnamese friends try this…)

One important note: this is a raw fermented meat product, so the curing mix, measurements, fermentation time and temperature matter. Don’t freestyle this one — use a curing mix specifically intended for this type of preparation and follow its instructions carefully.

If TikTok hadn’t sent me down this rabbit hole, I probably would never have discovered Nem Chua. Now I’m wondering what other fermented meat snacks the algorithm has been hiding from me!

Nem Chua (halal version)

This recipe for Nem Chua takes only 24 hours to prepare and keeps for up to 2 weeks in the chiller.

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Prep time

24 hour

Cook time

5 min

Total time

24 hour 5 min

Serves

8 - 10

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Equipment

rolling pin, ziplock bag

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Ingredients

• 1 kg minced beef
• 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 to 4 chilli padi, minced
• 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 packet nam seasoning mix
• 25 g tang hoon (mung bean vermicelli), optional
• 4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 red chilli padi, thinly sliced crosswise
• 3 stalks laksa leaves (kesum), plucked

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Preparation

1. Step 1
   Soak vermicelli for at least 20 minutes to fully hydrate. Blanch it in boiling water for about 3 mins or until soft but not mushy. Drain and soak in cold water to stop it from cooking.
2. Step 2
   Drain off the water from the vermicelli and use scissors to cut it into smaller pieces
3. Step 3
   In a clean mixing bowl, combine the mince with fish sauce, sugar, minced chillies, minced garlic, black pepper and nam seasoning mix.
4. Step 4
   Using your hands lined with gloves, massage everything together evenly, making sure that the seasoning mix permeates every part of the meat.
5. Step 5
   transfer the mix into a 1.2-litre ziploc bag. Using your fingers, push the meat to fill in the corners of the bag to evenly spread it out and to push out air pockets within the meat. Seal the ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to gently even it into an almost-perfect rectangular block.
6. Step 6
   Place the unfermented nem Chua on a tray or cutting board and place a heavy book on top to help it maintain its shape.
7. Step 7
   chill it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
8. Step 8
   Remove the ziploc bag by cutting it open. Using a knife and a clean cutting board, cut the nem chua into squares.
9. Step 9
   Lay out a piece of cling wrap into the counter. Arrange a piece of sliced chilli, stacked with a garlic slice and one laksa leaf. Gently press a piece of nem chua square on top and wrap the the square with cling wrap until it resembles a tight parcel. Repeat for all the nem chua.
10. Step 10
    Enjoy the Nem Chua as a snack or a side dish or even use it as a banh mi filling.

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SnackAppetizerBeefCharcuterieVietnameseVietnameseHalalLow fat

get the ingredients for the recipe in the links below!:

Nem Chua Powder, Tang Hoon, Fish Sauce, Minced Beef

try our other Vietnamese recipes here!: