Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup (Bún Riêu)
This rice noodle soup with crab is light and perfect for spring.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 package medium sized vermicelli noodles
- 1 lb pork spare ribs
- 12 dried shrimp
- 6 cups water
- 4 cubes bún riêu bouillon
- 1 shallot
- 14 oz crab meat
- 14 oz canned minced prawns in spices
- ½ lb ground pork
- 1 egg
- 2 medium tomatoes, sliced into 6-8 wedges each
- 1 package fried tofu, sliced or cut into wedges (sliced)
- Scallion and cilantro for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1
Cook noodles according to package and set aside
- 2
Cut spare ribs between bones and add to a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
- 3
Drain and rinse ribs and add back into pot with 6 clean cups of water. Add more water if needed to cover the ribs. Add dried shrimp and simmer for 30 minutes.
- 4
Take shrimp out and add bouillon to the remaining broth and ribs. Continue simmering while you prepare the riêu.
- 5
Add the dried shrimp and shallot to a food processor and blend until shrimp is finely shredded.
- 6
Mix shrimp/shallot mixture, crab, pork, minced prawn, egg, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
- 7
Add sliced tomatoes and tofu and turn up the heat until the broth boils again.
- 8
Reduce the heat back to a simmer and carefully spoon rieu mixture into the broth. It should float on top of the tofu and tomatoes.
- 9
Simmer the broth for another 15-30 minutes until rieu is cooked through. and you don't see any more pink pork.
- 10
Serve over vermicelli noodles with chopped scallion and cilantro for garnish.