Hayden Quinn’s Wagyu & Prawn Bun Thit Nuong

Ingredients

• 500g Our Cow Wagyu Sirloin, cut into 3cm cubes
• 500g Evans Head Eastern King Prawns, peeled, heads and tails left on
• Sea salt, to taste

Dipping Sauce:

• 3 tbs fish sauce
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 birds eye chili, finely sliced, seeds in^*
• 2tsp caster sugar

Garnishes:

• Bunch of Mint
• Bunch of Coriander
• Bunch of Shiso/Perilla^*
• Bunch of Thai basil
• 1 packed banh hoi^*
• 3 carrots, peeled with julienne peeler
• 4 baby cos lettuces, leaves separated
• 1/2 cup fried shallot
• 1/4 cup peanuts Skewers^*

Notes:
^* For the dipping sauce, you can remove the seeds from the chili for less heat or omit it all together.
^* Shiso/Perilla can be found at specialist grocers - these are a beautifully fragrant.
^* Banh hoi are either dried or precooked fine vermicelli noodle squares or rectangles that are perfect for this style of sharing dish. You can find them at Vietnamese grocers or Asian super markets.
^* I love using metal skewers as there is no fear of them burning. Bamboo work just fine, but give them a little soaking before cooking.
^* When skewering prawns I like to keep the heads and tails on, this not only looks nice but also gives something for the skewer to grab onto when threading the prawns.

Method

Step 1
Start by getting your BBQ roaring hot. In our case we used the Weber Go Anywhere charcoal BBQ to get that delicious smokey flavour on the meat and prawns.

Step 2
While BBQ is heating, make the dipping sauce by combining the fish sauce, lime, chili and sugar in a small bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Be sure to taste to ensure you have a balanced sauce.

Step 3
Season both the steak and the prawns well with sea salt. Then, taking the skewers thread on the cubes of steak and follow with the prawns*.

Step 4
Grill the beef skewers first, getting nicely charred and turning frequently. Cook to your liking. Remove from the heat and allow to rest while cooking the prawns. I like to place the prawns so that the heads are closest to the centre of the coals and the hottest part of the BBQ, this will keep the more delicate flesh away from the high heat and get a nice and crunchy head on the prawn.

Step 5
Serve the skewers with a big platter of the garnishes along with the banh hoi and dipping sauce.