Bi - Shredded Pork Skin

If you ever ordered a Broken Rice Platter at a Vietnamese restaurant you may have come across Bi. It looks like a pile of noodles but it's actually pork. It is a mixture of shredded pork skin and pork meat coated with roasted rice powder. Whenever my mom makes this at home she has to guard it with her life or else I will snack on this stuff like it's dried squid. Bi is great with rice or noodle, just add some prepared fish sauce. You can roll it up into a spring roll or stuff some in a baguette. If you are like me, Bi by itself is more than sufficient!

You can buy fresh pre-shredded pork skin usually in the frozen section of the Viet market. I have also seen dehydrated pork skin but I have never used or eaten those before. If you want to be able to control how thin or thick your shredded pork will be you can use a slab of pork belly and cutting everything up yourself. We usually just stick with the frozen kind. Bi is not all skin, but a combination of pork skin and meat. If you use pork belly you can make use of everything except the fatty part. For the meat portion I usually just pan fried a piece of boneless pork chop.

Ingredients:

1 package of frozen shredded pork skin
1-2 boneless pork chops
1 package of roasted rice powder
fish sauce
1 tablespoon of minced garlic

1. Place frozen shredded pork in cool water with plenty of salt. I change the water 4-5 times to make sure it is clean.
2. Marinade the pork chops with a couple squirt of fish sauce and let it marinade.
3. Drain the water from the shredded pork skin and let air dry.
4. Cook the pork chops by pan frying.
5. Cut the pork chops into thin strips.
6. This step is optional. My mom likes to spread out the pork skin in a plastic colander. Put it in the microwave on 1010 second intervals until it's soft. Don't over due this step because pork skin will melt together into clumps. Let the pork skin air dry again.
7. Combine pork skin, shredded pork meat, minced garlic, and a couple squirt of fish sauce. Mix everything together. Add the roasted rice powder and make sure all the ingredients are evenly coated.
8. Enjoy!