“Kho quẹt,” a Vietnamese dish featuring shrimp

Ingredients

• 2 shallots
• approximately 10 dried shrimp
• 5 small pieces of crispy bacon, about the size of a little finger
• 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons of glutamate (monosodium glutamate, or MSG)
• High-quality noodles, to your liking.
• 10 black peppercorns
• a little ground pepper
• 2 small chili peppers
• 1 tablespoon of lard

Rinse the dried shrimp and soak them in water.

Finely chop the shallots. Sauté them in a saucepan until softened, then add the drained shrimp and cook until they turn pink and are firm.

Add a little water to just cover the shrimp, then add the nuoc-mâm, sugar, and glutamate. Mix until everything is completely dissolved.

Lightly crush the peppercorns and hot peppers. Add them to the saucepan along with some ground pepper and pork fat, then continue to cook over low heat.

Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced and the sauce has thickened.

Remove from the heat and let cool. Then add the crispy bacon pieces: if added too early, they will become soggy and too salty.

Taste and adjust the seasoning: the amounts are just a guideline, you should adjust to your preference, adding more salt or sweetness as needed.

If you are serving kho quẹt with sticky rice, you can accompany it with pâté, Vietnamese sausage, or fermented bean curd.

Serve with cooked vegetables: bok choy (sweet Chinese cabbage), Chinese kale (Chinese cabbage), watercress, Savoy cabbage, pak-choi (Chinese cabbage), carrots, long beans (yardlong beans) or okra, depending on your preference.