Huế Fig Salad
Vả trộn
Huế's vả trộn — young green figs simmered tender, crushed with pork, shrimp, and sesame, and scooped up on toasted rice crackers. Garden thrift in company dress.
By Vietnamese Cookbook Kitchen · April 28, 2026
Huế & the Imperial CourtNguyễn & the Huế Court era, 1802–1883
Gỏi- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Beginner
The vả is a fig with a hometown. Ficus auriculata grows across the region, but Huế is where the squat green fruit became a kitchen staple — shading the garden houses and pagoda courtyards of the old capital, fruiting straight from the trunk in absurd clusters. Boiled, peeled, and crushed with pork, shrimp, and sesame, it became vả trộn (literally "mixed fig"): a dish that lives on both sides of Huế's oldest divide, meaty on the family table, tofu-dressed in the temples, and equally at home beside the Nguyễn court's fussier plates.
The fig itself tastes of almost nothing, and that is the job description: vả is a texture that borrows its flavor, starchy-tender, drinking up fish sauce and sesame the way bread drinks soup. Everything else is assembly. Serve it heaped, with sesame crackers standing in for cutlery, and watch a vegetable with no flavor disappear first.
Keep the boiled figs under water until the moment you slice them — vả oxidizes from ivory to bruise-grey in minutes, and no seasoning ever made grey look intentional.
Lời đầu bếp · A word from the kitchen
Ingredientsnguyên liệu
Serves 4
Figs
- 400 gyoung green figs (vả) — about 14 oz — fresh if a Vietnamese market carries them, or vacuum-packed boiled vả; see the FAQ for the honest substitutes
- 1 tbsplime juice — for the soaking water, to slow the darkening
Salad
- 150 gpork belly — about 5 oz — boiled whole, then sliced thin and short
- 150 gsmall shrimp — about 5 oz — boiled, peeled, and halved lengthwise
- 2 tbsptoasted sesame seeds
- 1.5 tbspfish sauce
- 1 tspsugar
- 0.5 tspground black pepper
- 1shallot, sliced and fried golden — or 2 tbsp store-bought fried shallots
- As neededrau răm (Vietnamese coriander), chopped — mint carries the job if rau răm is out of reach
- 1-2bird's-eye chilies, sliced
To serve
- 4bánh tráng mè (sesame rice crackers) — toasted over flame or in the oven until blistered; plain shrimp chips are the cheerful fallback
Methodcách làm
Step 1: Tame the figs
Boil the whole figs in well-salted water until a skewer slides in easily, 15–20 minutes, then drop them into cold water spiked with the lime juice. The boil removes the latex bitterness that raw vả carries; the acidulated soak keeps the flesh pale.
Step 2: Peel and press
Working under or straight out of the water, peel away the dark skin, slice the figs into thin wedges, and squeeze them firmly, a handful at a time, in a clean towel. A wet fig sheds water into the seasoning for the rest of its life; a pressed one drinks the dressing instead.
Step 3: Cook the pork and shrimp
Simmer the pork belly gently until just cooked through, about 15 minutes to 71°C (160°F), and boil the shrimp two minutes in the same pot. Slice the pork thin and short, halve the shrimp, and let both cool — this salad is served at room temperature, not hot.
Step 4: Season in the pan
Warm a spoonful of oil in a wide pan, add the figs, pork, and shrimp with the fish sauce, sugar, and pepper, and toss over medium heat for two minutes — just long enough for the seasoning to be absorbed rather than worn. Off the heat, fold in the sesame, fried shallots, chili, and rau răm.
Step 5: Serve with crackers
Mound the salad in a shallow bowl and serve with toasted sesame crackers, broken into shards at the table. The cracker is the spoon; cutlery is available for the unconverted.
Đồ nghề · The tools
Equipment
Portable gas burner
Bếp ga miniLẩu is not lẩu if someone has to keep walking to the stove. The tabletop butane burner turns a pot of broth into a two-hour dinner party.
Shop on Amazon →Mandoline
Bàn bàoĐồ chua lives or dies on evenness — carrot and daikon cut to the same whisper-thin matchstick pickle at the same speed. Use the guard; every Vietnamese grandmother has the scar that says otherwise.
Shop on Amazon →
Equipment links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no cost to you. Disclosure.
Questions from the kitchen
What substitutes for vả outside Vietnam?
In order of honesty — vacuum-packed or jarred boiled vả from a Vietnamese grocer; canned young green jackfruit, which matches the neutral, faintly fibrous bite; or artichoke bottoms, which get the softness but read sweeter. Ordinary ripe figs are the one wrong answer — this dish is built on the unripe fruit's starchiness.
Why did my figs turn dark anyway?
Air, time, or iron. Keep boiled figs submerged until slicing, use a stainless or ceramic knife and bowl, and dress within the hour. Slightly grey figs still taste right — serve them under a confident extra scatter of sesame and no one files a complaint.
Can I make it vegetarian?
Huế already did — temple kitchens make vả trộn chay with fried tofu in place of pork and shrimp, seasoned with soy sauce or vegetarian fish sauce. It predates the meat version at some pagodas; either direction of substitution has centuries of precedent.
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