Bun Rieu - Tomato and Crab Meat Noodle Soup

Serving: 5-6 Servings

Ingredients

Soup
4 Qts broth (chicken, pork, or shrimp)
5 Qts water
5-6 Fresh tomatoes (cut into wedges, ½ inch thick)
15-20 Dried shrimp (soak and reserve water)
5 Shallots (minced)
7 Cloves of garlic (minced)
2 Tbsp oil
1 Tsp shrimp paste
8 Eggs
2 7oz Crab paste with soya bean oil
1 Tub premium lump crabmeat
Salt, to taste
1 Bag of rice noodle

Accompaniments
½ Cup scallion (coarsely chopped)
1 lb Bean sprouts
Fried tofu – optional
Poached shrimp
Cha lua – Vietnamese cooked pork roll
Perilla mint or any kind of mint av.
Rau Ram – Vietnamese coriander
Iceberg lettuce (julienne)
Thai chili
Lime wedges
Water spinach

Method

1 - Heat a large stock pot with oil, then add minced garlic and shallots. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes then add in the tomatoes. Cook tomatoes until soft and tender.
2 - Remove the soaked dried shrimp and pour the shrimp juice into the stock pot, along with water and broth. Bring to a boil.
3 - In a bowl combine crab paste, and eggs.
4 - Grind the dried shrimp in a food processor then add the shrimp to the crab and egg mixture. Stir until you get a smooth rieu paste.
5 - Once the soup comes to a boiled, reduce heat to medium low. Then pour in rieu paste.
6 - Let soup simmer on medium low heat until the rieu mixture hardens and float to the top.
7 - Once the rieu mixture float to the top, stir in 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste, then add in the crab lumps. Stir and remove from heat.
8 - In a medium pot, add water and bring to a boil. Then add rice noodles. Cook noodle for 6-7 minutes, remove from heat and cover with lid for 5 minutes.
9 - Drain noodles with a colander then rinse noodles under cold water. Set aside.

To serve Place bean sprouts, iceberg lettuce and rice noodle in a bowl, make sure that the noodles goes on top of the vegetable, then pour the rieu soup over the noodles. Fried tofu, cha lua, poached shrimp, and water spinach can be added on top of soup. Garnish with Thai chili, lime wedge, mints, rau ram, and scallions.

Bun Goi Gia – Tamarind Broth with Rice Noodle

Serving: 5-6 Servings

Ingredients

4 Quarts water
2 ½ Tbsp tamarind soup base
2 Tbsp fish sauce
Salt
Sugar
1 lb pork belly or pork loin (par boiled, cut thinly)
½ lb shrimp (poached and shell removed)
Cha lua – optional
½ lb Chives (cut crosswise, about 1 ½ inches long)
1 lb Bean sprout
1 pack rice noodle – (boiled and strained)
Hoisen sauce – optional

Method

1 - Add water to stock pot, then add tamarind soup base, salt and sugar to taste, stir and bring to a boil.
2 - Reduce heat to medium low, then add fish sauce, and pork belly.
3 - Cover lid and let broth simmer for 15 minutes, then remove from heat.
4 - Layer bean sprouts, chives, and noodles into a bowl. Then top with poached shrimp, and cha lua – optional. Then ladle broth and pork belly into the bowl.
5 - Add a teaspoon of hoisen sauce to the noodle if desire.

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Sizzling Cake

Serving: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients

Crepe Batter
1 ½ Cup Rice Flour
¼ Tsp Turmeric powder
1 Cup Coconut milk
½ Cup Water
½ Tsp Sugar
½ Tsp Salt
¼ Cup Scallion (coarsely chopped)
½ Cup Shallot (thinly sliced)

Filling
1/2 lb Shrimp (shelled and divined)
1/4 cup Pork belly (thinly sliced)
¼ cup King oyster mushroom (thinly sliced)
Salt to taste
1 lb Bean sprout

3 Tbsp Oil and
Additional oil for frying the crepes

Accompaniment
Lettuce
Cilantro
Mint leaves

Dipping Sauce
¼ Cup Vietnamese fish sauce
¼ Cup Warm water
¼ Cup Vinegar
¼ Cup Sugar
Optional: 1 Chile pepper (minced)

Method

1 - In a large bowl combine rice flour, turmeric powder, sugar, coconut milk, water, mix well then add shallot, and scallion. Stir until everything is combine, add salt to taste. Set aside.
2 - In a hot wok or a sauté pan add 1 tbsp oil, sliced pork belly, and salt to taste, sautéed until meat is cooked thoroughly remove and set aside. Do the same for the shrimp and oyster mushroom, sautéed each ingredients separately.
3 - Par boiled the bean sprout for 1 minute, strain and set aside.
4 - Combine all the dipping sauce ingredients together stir well and set aside.
5 - Heat a medium sauté pan with oil. Stir the crepe batter well and using a soup scoop, pour a full scoop of batter into the pan and swirl the batter around to coat the pan. Then add a few pieces of shrimp, pork belly, mushroom, and just enough bean sprout to cover the meat. Let everything cook for about 1-2 minutes or until the middle of the crepes does not look wet. Fold the crepe over to cover the filling (like an omelet). Remove cooked crepe and repeat the same step with the next crepe.
6 - Serve crepes along side with lettuce, cilantro, mint leaves, and dipping fish sauce.

Banh Bot Loc – Clear Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

Serving: 4 Servings

Ingredients

Dough
1 Package of banh bot loc mix
1 ½ Cups boiling water

Stuffing
½ lb Small shrimp (shelled and devein)
¼ lb Pork belly (thinly sliced)
4 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp annatto seeds - optional
3 Tbsp garlic (minced)
3 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp sugar

Accompaniments
Mo Hanh – Vietnamese scallion oil
Blanched Bean sprouts
Mints
Rau Ram – Vietnamese coriander
3 Tbsp fried shallots
3 Tbsp cilantro (roughly chopped)
Nuoc mam cham

Method

1 - Marinade the pork belly with 1 ½ tbsp of fish sauce, 1 tbsp of sugar. In a separate bowl do the same for the shrimp. Set aside for 30 minutes.
2 - Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a small pan. When oil is hot add the annatto seeds.(caution: seeds will pop as it touches hot oil) Keep stirring seeds until oil turns a reddish color, then remove and discard the seeds. Keep the annatto oil in the pan.
3 - In the same pan add minced garlic and the marinaded pork belly . Cook meat on medium heat until fully cooked, then add shrimp and cook until shrimp turns pink. Remove from heat, set aside.
4 - Empty all the flour into a mixing bowl, then slowly add 1 ½ cup of boiling water, stir with a spatula as you pour. Continuously stir until mostly all the flour and water is incorporated, and dough begins to form. Then start by using your hands to knead the dough until you get a fine textured dough ball. Make sure to flour all surfaces before working with dough. As dough can become very sticky.
5 - Roll out small individual dough balls, about the sizes of a quarter. Then use a roller to flatten the dough into 2 inches wide circles.
6 - Add 1 piece of shrimp and 1 piece pork belly into the center of the dough, then fold the dough over to meet the other end, use a fork to seal and crimp the edges. Continue to do the same with the rest of the dough.
7 - Bring a large pot of water to a boiled then add the dumplings, stir occasionally. Dumplings will float to the surface when ready. When dumplings start to float remove from pot and bath in warm water for 1-2 minutes. Drain dumplings and drizzle oil over dumplings to prevent from sticking together.
8 - Serve dumplings with mints, rau ram, fried onions, and nuoc mam cham.
Blanched bean sprouts, cilantro, and mo hanh are optional.