How to Make Bun Rieu -y Good :) (Vietnamese Crab/Shrimp Noodles)

I asked my mom what I should make for my husband’s family who are visiting us from Vietnam and for my mother in law. My mom told me that older people love eating noodles with a nice hearty broth since it’s not only refreshing and delicious, but easy to eat and easy to please! She also said, every woman loves Bun Rieu, and I know because I am a woman and always crave it (I think she was dropping hints for me to make her some soon too..haha). Generalized or not, this is always a Vietnamese house hold favorite where ever it is I go, and it is probably one of the most easiest noodle dishes that Vietnamese people have to offer. Try it out for yourself, it’s almost fool proof and super forgiving.

Ingredients for Bun Rieu:

• Pork neck bones (or rib bones, really up to you)
• Onion
• Tomatos
• Tofu ( I prefer the spongy ones)
• Shrimp Paste, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, paprika
• Pork Blood
• Shrimp and Crab Rieu (found in glass jars or cans– has minced crab/shrimp with paprika, garlic, onions, etc)
• Tapioca Starch
• Eggs
• Chopped Green Onion, Cilantro, and thinly sliced Yellow Onion
• Minced Shallots and Garlic
• Minced pork/Ground pork
• Fresh salad  mixture: banana flower, mint, basil, lettuce, bean sprouts, etc.
• Lime

Timing is essential so before you start any real work, get the time sensitive stuff going.

• Start your pork bone broth by washing your pork bones and putting them into a pot. Put the bones in the pot with just enough water to cover and add a teaspoon of salt. We’re going to bring this to a hard boil and remove the bones, wash the bones, wash the pot, and start the bones again in some fresh water (about 3/4 of the pot filled) with some salt. This process removes impurities from the bones such as blood and allows for a nice clean broth.
• Cut your pork blood in quarters. Remember to slide your knife around the container to ‘release’ the blood quadrants more easily. In a small salted pot with water, add your pork blood. Do not allow this pot come to a hard boil. Hard boiling pork blood will introduce ‘bubbles’ into the the pork blood and this takes away from the integrity of boiled pork blood. I usually put this on the stove first on low heat for at least an hour/two hours to make sure its adequately cooked.
  • When this is done, dump out the water and immerse the pork blood in some cold water to let set. Once set, cut them up into triangle segments and set aside.

    

Making a Vietnamese noodle dish is almost an orchestration. To have a successful orchestration with optimal efficiency especially when you’re in the kitchen working yourself, you gotta prep! The heats on high and the fire doesn’t take too long to make things sizzle, so prepping is essential.

Prep List:

• Quarter a  handful of tomatoes
• Mince up your garlic and shallots
• Peel your shrimp and leave the heady goodness on if you have shrimps with heads. Finely chop up the shrimp with some garlic and onion tossed in for flavor
• Prepare your Anatto seed oil (Hot Dieu) by adding your anatto seeds to warm oil and stirring until a deep red emerges from the seeds. If your seeds get burnt or turn black, you’ve gone too far and the oil will be far too bitter to use. Make sure you remove your anatto seeds once it’s reached the deep red quickly to prevent the blackening.

Cooking Time!:

1. Using your Anatto seed infused oil, sauté your shallots. Once the shallots have withered down and has browned, add in your garlic.
2. Add your 2 jars or 2 cans of shrimp and crab rieu.
3. Add a teaspoon of salt, teaspoon of paprika, 2 teaspoons of black pepper, and a pinch of sugar.
4. Add 3 tablespoons of fish sauce. You want to make this concoction a little bit salty since it’ll be a base to marinate your ground pork mixture.
5. Once fully incorporated, set aside and let cool.
6. Once cool, put 2/3 of your concoction into a big mixing bowl with your ground pork.
7. Add 2 tbs of tapioca starch to the ground pork and 3 eggs. Mix well.
8. For the remaining ‘concoction’ add in another 3 eggs and mix well.
9. Remove the bones from your broth. Add in your quartered tomatoes.
10. Scoop out your ground pork and add to your broth.
11. Slide in your egg mixture from step 8 into the broth and allow it to come to a boil.
12. Add some shrimp paste to a ladle and using some of the hot liquid of the broth, work it into the broth.
13. Add fish sauce and or salt to taste.
14. Add your tofu to the broth and remember to add some boiled pork blood to each bowl when serving. This goes best with a squeeze of lime and some extra shrimp paste on the side to add preferentially.