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Vietnamese food is becoming much more prevalent in our culture these days and not a moment too soon, if you ask me. It has the heat of Thai food, the sweetness of Chinese, but is much lighter than both. Bun Xao is a typical street food eaten from bowls with a mix of cold rice noodles, crunchy salad, beef and lemongrass stir-fry and nuoc mam, which translates as Vietnamese fish sauce.) The variety of textures, colours and aromas in this dish are fantastic.

for the stir fry
1 small onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
6 spring onions, cut in half lengthways, then each cut into 3
1 stalk lemongrass, peeled of its woody leaves, then very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ teaspoon turmeric
200g rump steak, thinly sliced, (for stir frying)
1 teaspoon golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce

for the sauce
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small fresh red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime
100ml rice wine vinegar
100ml fish sauce

for the salad
250g thin rice noodles,
8 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped
½ cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced into matchsticks
6 spring onions, cut into matchsticks
12 large mint leaves, finely chopped
a small bunch of coriander
a handful of roasted peanuts, chopped

Place the onions, spring onions, lemongrass, garlic, turmeric, steak, sugar and fish sauce into a mixing bowl and mix together. Leave to marinade for 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, combine the garlic, chilli and sugar in a mortar or food processor. Pound them into a fine paste. Add the lime juice, vinegar, fish sauce and 50ml of water, then stir to blend.

Put the noodles in a bowl with boiling water to cover. Let stand until al dente, which will take about 10 minutes. Divide the noodles between two bowls.

Mix the salad vegetables together then top each bowl of noodles with salad.

Heat the oil in a wok on high until it is almost smoking. Throw in the beef and onions and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until the meat has browned and the onions are just cooked. Top each bowl with the stir-fry.

Finish by topping each bowl with the herbs and peanuts and serve with a few tablespoons of sauce poured over.