Bun Rieu Cua (Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup)

The smell of this broth as it fills your home will make any stomach rumble. This is a great meal to eat during the winter. The broth is wonderfully flavor with tomato, shrimp and crab.

Traditionally this soup is made with Cua Ghe, a small blue crab. Although I have never done it before, I heard that the blue crab would be cleaned and then pound with shell into a fine paste. The paste is then strained and the crab juice is the base. This is the reason why this dish was considered very special because of it time consuming effort. Me? I cheat and buy the paste pre-made.

My favorite part of this dish definitely involves the crab paste. With all the flavor of the paste, I add more crab and small dried shrimp. Egg is added and mixture is then pour into the broth giving it flavor and great texture. I hope you enjoy that part as well.

printable recipe

Ingredients:

4 lbs.of beef neck bones or pork bones

13 cups of chicken broth

6 cups  of water

1 jar Crab Paste

1 cup of dried shrimp

1/2 cup crab meat

3 eggs

5 Tbs. Oil

2 tsp. Annatto seeds

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 onion

1 Tbs sugar

6 tomatoes

1 large block of tofu

1 package Rice Stick Noodles

Directions:

1. In a large pot, add 6 cup water. Add the beef neck bone or pork bones and bring to a boil. Drain the bone. Add back to pot. This will produce a clearer broth.
2. Add to the bones, 6 cups of chicken broth and 6 cups of water. Be sure the bones are cover and add more water if needed. Add to the bone broth, 1 peeled onion and 1 Tbs. sugar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 3 hours.
3. In a bowl, heat up 1 cup of water to a warm temperature. Add the dried shrimp and let soak for 1 hour. Afterward, strain the shrimp adding the brine to the soup. Place the shrimp in a food processor and finely chop. Place in a bowl along with crab meat and crab paste.
4. Heat up a skillet pan with 2 Tbs oil and annatto seeds. Heat up oil and once the oil has taken up the color, remove seeds. Add 3 Tbs garlic and saute until brown. Add the shrimp and crab mix and saute for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and let mixture cool down.
5. In a separate skillet pan, add 1 Tbs oil and 3 Tbs garlic. Saute until brown. Add the sliced tomatoes to the skillet and cook slightly for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes to the bone broth.
6. Bring the broth up to a slight boil.
7. Crack and add the eggs to the cooled shrimp and crab mixture. Mix until even. 
8. Add the egg, shrimp and crab mixture to the soup. The crab mixture will float to the top as it cooks.
9. Optional addition of fried tofu and blood can be added to your broth.
10. In a pot, boil the rice stick noodles for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the noodles under cold water.
11. Assemble a bowl with noodles and broth.