Bún riêu — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A tomato-rich noodle soup with delicate crab and egg fritters floating in a tangy broth, served with thin rice vermicelli, fried tofu puffs, and a generous garnish of fresh herbs and shrimp paste.

Ingredients

200g crab meat or crab paste
3 eggs, beaten
6 ripe tomatoes, quartered
500g thin rice vermicelli (bun)
200g fried tofu puffs, halved
1 tablespoon fermented shrimp paste
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1.5 liters chicken stock
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh herbs: perilla, mint, cilantro
Bean sprouts, banana blossom, lime wedges

Instructions

1 Mix crab meat with beaten eggs, a pinch of salt, and a tablespoon of fish sauce to form a loose paste and set aside.
2 Heat oil in a stockpot, saute shallots and garlic until golden, then add quartered tomatoes and cook until they break down into a thick base.
3 Pour in chicken stock, bring to a boil, season with fish sauce, sugar, and shrimp paste, and simmer for twenty minutes.
4 Gently pour the crab-egg mixture into the simmering broth in a slow stream while stirring gently, allowing it to form soft floating curds.
5 Add fried tofu puffs and simmer for another five minutes until everything is heated through and the flavors meld.
6 Cook rice vermicelli, divide among bowls, ladle the soup over the noodles, and serve with fresh herbs, bean sprouts, banana blossom, and lime wedges.

Did You Know?

The crab fritters in bun rieu are made by pounding fresh paddy crabs through a sieve, mixing the extract with eggs, and gently poaching the mixture in the simmering broth until it forms delicate, floating curds.