Bun Rieu Crab and Tomato Noodle Soup

What you need

• 500 g (1 lb) pork bones, neck or marrow bones
• 2 l (8 cups) water, for the broth
• 250 g (9 oz) crab meat, ground freshwater crab if you can find it, otherwise picked fresh crab
• 200 g (7 oz) ground pork
• 2 eggs
• 4 shallots, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp black pepper, ground
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp annatto oil, or 1 tsp annatto seeds fried in the oil and strained out
• 4 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp fermented shrimp paste, plus extra for serving
• 200 g (7 oz) fried tofu puffs, halved
• 400 g (14 oz) rice vermicelli, fresh, or 250 g dried
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 200 g (7 oz) water spinach, stems split and shredded
• 1 handful perilla leaves, or other Vietnamese herbs
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 2 fresh red chilies, sliced

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Put the pork bones in a large pot, cover with cold water and boil hard for 3 min. Drain and rinse off the scum.

2. 2

   Return the bones to the clean pot with the 2 l of water and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 45 min, skimming off any foam.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, mix the crab, ground pork, eggs, half the shallots, the pepper, 1 tbsp of the fish sauce and 1 tsp of the sugar in a bowl until evenly combined. Keep it in the fridge until needed.

4. 4

   Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the garlic and the rest of the shallots until fragrant, about 1 min.

5. 5

   Add the tomatoes and the annatto oil and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes soften at the edges, 3-4 min.

6. 6

   Lift the bones out of the broth. Stir in the tomatoes, the shrimp paste, the rest of the fish sauce and sugar, and the salt.

7. 7

   Keep the broth at a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil. Drop in large spoonfuls of the crab mixture and leave them alone.

8. 8

   Simmer until the crab clusters float and turn firm and pale, cooked through, 8-10 min.

9. 9

   Add the tofu and simmer 5 min so it soaks up the broth. Taste and add salt or fish sauce as needed.

10. 10

    Cook the vermicelli as the packet directs, then rinse under hot water and drain well.

11. 11

    Divide the noodles between deep bowls and ladle the broth, tomatoes, tofu and crab clusters over the top.

12. 12

    Scatter with scallions. Serve with the water spinach, perilla, limes, chilies and a little extra shrimp paste on the side.

Imported from fifteen.net. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.