Nem lui or Lemongrass pork skewers is a specialty food in Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue cities in Vietnam. Its origin is Hue city. This grilled dish is made with ground pork, lemongrass, rice paper, raw vegetables and local style dipping sauce. Now, let’s HoiAn Day Trip Company provide all information about Nem Lui or Lemongrass pork skewers.
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• Content by Tam Le, founder of HOIAN DAY TRIP CO.,LTD
• Designed by Giang Cong Minh, co-founder of LS E&C LTD and his team
• Photo by Dang Cong Loi, Dao Xuan Son, Tam Le & others
Must Knows about Hoi An Pork Skewers (Nem Lui)
– Other name(s):
– Origin: Hue city, central Vietnam
– Similar dish: nem nuong (grilled pork sausage)
– Where to find: local markets and restaurants in Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue cities
– Ingredients: lean pork, lemongrass, fish sauce, ground black pepper, spices, raw vegetables and herbs, dipping sauce
– Time: afternoon to evening
– Price: 100,000 VND/plate
– Calories:
– Travel blog: https://hoiandaytrip.com/hoi-an-pork-skewers
– Fact:
Name of Nem Lui
Nem means ‘pork sausage’ and Lui means ‘skewering’. Many people are confused about nem lui and nem luong (grilled pork sausage).
Ingredients & How to Make Hoi An Pork Skewers
Nem lui or Lemongrass pork skewers are made with lean pork, lemongrass. Raw vegetables, pickles and local style dipping sauce are served as side dishes. The pork must be fresh, still warm and bought in the early morning at local markets or from nearby slaughterhouses. Local artisans will take banana leaves from the garden or buy at local markets (not in supermarkets or shopping malls!).
Here are steps to make Nem lui or Lemongrass pork skewer:
Step 1: Wash the lean pork, cut into smaller pieces and then grind into smooth paste by machine. Fish sauce, ground black pepper and seasoning power can be added.
Step 2: Fully cover the bigger head of lemongrass stalk by pork paste. In many places, people use bamboo sticks to replace the lemongrass stalk.
Step 3: Grilled the pork skewer on the barbecue.
Step 4: Make the dipping sauce by minced pork, peanut, sesame, fish sauce, and seasoning powder.
How to Eat Hoi An Pork Skewers Like A Local
Local people will eat Nem lui or Lemongrass pork skewers with rice paper, raw vegetables (cucumber slices, green mango slices, green banana slices, lettuce, herbs), pickled veggies or kimchi and a local style dipping sauce. The dipping sauce is made by minced pork, peanut, sesame, purple onion, fish sauce or seasoning powder. If do not like this sauce, people will make a fish sauce with addition of sugar, garlic, red chilli and lime juice.
Step 1: Taste the dipping sauce to know its flavours and use something to customize (lime juice, fresh chilli, chilli sauce, Hoi An chilli sauce/jam, garlic).
Step 2: Take one nem lui skewer and place it on the rice paper. Add your favourite raw vegetables and pickles.
Step 3: Use hand to wrap and then roll everything tightly (if one rice paper is not enough, just two rice papers to make this work easier)
Step 4: Use one hand to keep the roll and use the other hand to remove the lemongrass (as skewer) out of it.
Step 5: Dip the pork roll into the local style sauce and then eat.
Where to Eat Nem Lui (Pork Skewers) in Hoi An?
Visitors need to find street vendors and stalls near local markets to see and try Banh bo or Cow cake. No restaurants serve it. On streets around the Hoi An Central Market, it’s possible.
Better to Know about Eating Local in Hoi An
– Local family-run restaurants always serve better local foods than tourist restaurants. Places inside small alleyways potentially are hidden gems. The price is even more affordable at these lesser known spots.
– Restaurants where you can see a queue or crowds, food or drinks there are absolutely better or safer than others. Vietnamese people also avoid places without people eating, such as roadside eateries.
– Hot foods are often safe to eat for non-Vietnamese people. Refuse cold food (especially ones sold on the street, markets) or things you don’t see people cooking.
– Make sure that you learn some basic Vietnamese words or sentences to order foods, such as xin chao (hello, hi), cho toi mot (something) (I want one…), toi an chay (I am vegetarian), khong cay (no spicy), cam on (thank you), tam biet (goodbye) or numbers (mot/one, hai/two, ba/three, bon/four, nam/five, sau/six, bay/seven, tam/eight, chin/nine, and muoi/ten).
– Ask any local people you know (tour guide, driver, hotel receptionists, bellmen, etc) to receive their recommendation for good places to eat local.
– Raw vegetables are popularly used in local dishes, such as noodles or noodle soup or sandwich. They are often washed by tap water or unwashed. If can not drink tap water, remove or refuse them. Likewise, in most iced drinks (such as coffee or herbal tea), people add ice made by tap water also.
– On the 1st day and 14th-15th days of each lunar month, Hoi An citizens eat vegetarians. Many local restaurants and street businesses will be closed by that.
– If you don’t eat pork or beef, due to diet or religious restrictions, be careful when want to try local food here, if don’t see the ingredient description. Pork and beef are very popular meats, so they will be in numerous dishes. Street vendors may say ‘no pork’ or ‘no beef’ for better business, but please check before buying!
– Consider joining a food tour guided by locals who know much better about dishes in the city, including things never mentioned in guidebooks or on the internet.
– If have an allergy (milk, egg, peanut, wheat,…), ask anybody you know before trying or search for ingredients on the internet. By the way, fish sauce is popularly used to marinate Vietnamese foods, so make sure that you know this information if you’re fish allergic.
– Food portion (or size) here is often not really big (locals prefer eating with their family at home). You may try double or some different dishes for main meals.
– If don’t see the price on the menu, please ask in advance to avoid overcharging, especially when you are not a local. In Vietnamese, how much is bao nhieu.
– Most popular cutleries are chopsticks and spoons. To know how to use it, browse here
