Vietnamese crab noodle soup

Blog in Vietnamese: Video cách nấu bún riêu

This Bun rieu (Vietnamese crab noodle soup) is authentic, and tastes incredible! It is probably one of the most popular street foods in Vietnam. The preparation varies in different parts of the country. I'm from southern Vietnam, so you may be familiar with my style if you are also from the south. It's a bowl full of healthy goodness, and Vietnamese lemon balm is the perfect herb to accompany the flavor of the soup.

 

♥Ingredients:

(6 portions)

For the soup:

1 7 oz jar of minced crab in spiceås
¾ cup (60 g) dried shrimp, washed, drained
1 cup (180 g) fresh shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 cup (180 g) pork paste giò sống (how to make pork paste)
1 egg
10 cups (2400 ml) pork or chicken broth
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 medium-large ripe tomatoes, peeled, cut into wedges (I showed how to peel a tomato in Canh chua video here)
1 cup cubed deep fried tofu
1 cup cubed pork blood, cut into bite sized cubes
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
½ tsp ground pepper
fish sauce
¼ cup green onion white part, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil

For the bowl, garnish, and common accompaniments:
Vermicelli noodles
green onion (green part only), finely chopped
cilantro, finely chopped
fine shrimp paste
fresh hot chillies (optional)
Vietnamese lemon balm
perilla
bean sprouts
shredded water spinach (I substitute thinly sliced cabbage)
lime wedges

♥Instructions: Watch how to make Vietnamese crab noodle soup on VansKitchen Youtube.

1) Place the pork blood in boiling water, and cook for 2 minutes. Then take out and soak in cold water until needed.
2) Combine dried shrimp with 2 cups of water, cover and cook on medium-high heat until it boils. Then lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Drain through a colander and set the broth aside.
3) Make the crab mixture: In the bowl of food processor, combine pork paste, shrimp, dried shrimp, white part of the green onion, egg, minced crab, 1 tsp of fish sauce and ½ tsp of pepper. Process until smooth. Set aside.
4) Make the soup: In a large pot, heat the oil, add the chopped shallots and saute until the shallots turn brown and smell good. Add the tomato wedges. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir to combine. Then add the broth made from dried shrimp and chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Skim the foam off the top. Use 2 spoons, scoop the crab mixture with 1 spoon and use the other one to scrape the crab into the pot, spoon by spoon until finish all the crab mixture. Cook until the crab mixture floats to the surface. Add the deep fried tofu and pork blood.Cook for about 5 more minutes. Taste and season with fish sauce if needed.
5) Place noodle in the serving bowl. Ladle crab mixture, tomato, pork blood, tofu on top. Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onion. Before eating, add a little bit of shrimp paste and your choice of herbs and vegetables, squeeze some lemon juice on top, mix and serve.

♥ Here are a few of the tools I used in the video:
Victorinox Chef Knife
Cuisinart Mini Food Processor
Peugeot Paris U'Select Pepper Mill
Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainless Steel Cookware Set
Anchor Hocking Oven Bake and Food preparation Set