How to make crab noodle soup bun rieu

This recipe serves about 4 to 6 people, takes approximately 90 minutes to prepare, and provides around 2,900 calories in total.

Ingredients:

-600g of field crab

-200g of ground pork with fat

-100g of pork paste

-100g of pork roll

-100g of pig blood

-80g of dried shrimp

-4 pieces of tofu

-4 tomatoes

-1 egg

-1 pork trotter

-Spices: fish sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, shrimp paste, MSG, lime, chili, garlic, shallots

-Served with: fresh vermicelli, pig blood curd, shredded morning glory, banana blossom, bean sprouts, green onions, cilantro

-Cashew oil, cooking oil

Instructions:

1. Preparation

- Put the crabs in a pot or high-walled box, add a little salt and water.

- Cover, and shake vigorously to remove dirt from the crabs.

- Peel the shell, scoop out the yellow crab roe.

- Put the crab roe on a sieve, then rinse gently with water until clean.

- Wash the crab body, put it in a mortar with a little salt and grind until it sticks. The purpose of this process is to create adhesion, which helps extract more meat from the crab and results in the formation of meat lumps during cooking, as opposed to using a grinding method. Pounding and filtering carefully many times is the secret to getting a lot of crab meat.

- Add water to the crushed crab, squeeze thoroughly until the meat dissolves.

- Allow the water to sit undisturbed so that any crab shells can settle to the bottom.

- After this settling period, you should then carefully filter the liquid to separate the water that has risen to the top from any solids that may have settled at the bottom.

- The goal is to obtain a clear and refined broth, free from any unwanted solids.

Both the crab body and the crab roe serve as primary ingredients for the noodle soup. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

- Fry tofu until golden brown, then cut into smaller pieces.

- Cut pork roll into bite-sized pieces.

- Soak dried shrimp.

For the pig blood curd:

- Mix the pig blood with water at a ratio of 1:1, add a little MSG to neutralize the salty taste.

- Let it solidify for a while, then cut into pieces and put in a pot to boil over low heat.

- After about 20 minutes, the blood is cooked.

- Take it out and set aside.

The toppings contain various pork blood curd, tofu, pork roll, dried shrimps, an egg and ground pork, creating a rich blend of flavors. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

- Shave the pork trotter, cut into thick pieces.

- Blanch them, rinse again with water then let it dry.

- Marinate the pork trotter with a teaspoon of cashew oil and salt for flavor.

After blanching, the pork trotter will have a clearer and lighter skin color. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

- Cut the tomatoes into wedges.

- Wash and dry herbs and raw vegetables.

Tomatoes and herbs add vibrant colors to the dish. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

2. Cooking process

For the broth:

- Put the crab water on the stove and cook over medium heat.

- Stir well so the crab meat doesn't stick to the bottom.

- When the crab meat floats and the water becomes clear, lower the heat.

- Use a ladle to scoop the meat into a bowl. The desired product is the crab meat, which has been formed into a block.

- Put the pork trotter pieces in the broth and simmer until soft.

The crab meat forms a light brown block. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

For the crab mixture:

- Heat a pan. Add chopped shallots to the heated pan.

- Once the shallots become fragrant, introduce crab roe to the pan.

- Sauté the crab roe for 3 minutes.

- Remove the cooked crab roe from the pan and set it aside.

- Take 50g of soaked dried shrimp, grind or pound them.

- Add crab meat, ground pork, raw pork paste and chopped shallots and garlic, 1 egg.

- Then add a teaspoon of fish sauce, a pinch of salt, sugar, pepper, MSG, as well as a teaspoon of cashew oil and mix well.

- Steam this mixture for about 15 minutes.

- Once it is cooked, take it out and spread the cooked crab roe on top to add aroma and eye-catching color.

The crab mixture, after being cooked, has a golden brown color. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

- Saute shallots, garlic with cashew oil, add half of the tomatoes and stir-fry. Tomatoes contain a lot of vitamin A, which is slightly soluble in water but dissolves well in fat. When stir-frying tomatoes, you should add a little more oil to give them a beautiful color. The umami flavor in tomatoes, dried shrimp, and shrimp paste helps create a natural sweetness for the broth without the need for bone broth.

- Season with a pinch of salt to soften the tomatoes quickly, then pour into the pot of crab broth.

- Add the remaining 30g of dried shrimp to the pot.

- Adjust seasoning (sugar, fish sauce, shrimp paste, salt, sugar, MSG) to taste.

- Finally, add the remaining tomatoes, add in the pork blood curd, pork roll, fried tofu, crab mixture back in until hot.

The pot is filled with toppings, all bathed in a red-colored broth. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

- Blanch the vermicelli in boiling water.

- Take just enough vermicelli for each serving into a bowl.

- Scoop up the crab mixture, pork trotters, pig blood curd, tofu, pork sausage, along with a few pieces of red tomatoes and place them on top of the noodles.

- Fill the bowl with the broth. Sprinkle with green onions, coriander and enjoy.

A bowl of bun rieu captivates the diner with its varied toppings, along with an aromatic broth. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Thuy

Finished product:

A bowl of bun rieu is highlighted by its eye-catching red-orange color. The crab mixture has a soft and sweet yet firm texture, while the pork trotters contribute a gelatinous and tender quality. The broth achieves a balanced flavor profile, combining sweetness and sourness, with a harmonious integration of shrimp paste.

Each region has different cooking methods. Traditional Hanoi crab noodle soup retains a rustic character so that each flavor is clear with crab meat, crab roe, tomatoes and spring onions, with the faint scent of natural vinegar.

When entering the central region, bun rieu is added with the long and thin Hue-style pork roll.

In the southern provinces, bun rieu combines many flavors with toppings such as pig blood curd, pork ribs, pork trotters, fried tofu, crab mixture, and snails.