Bun Rieu
A tomato broth deepened with fermented shrimp paste, floating with a crab-and-egg curd formed from whole pounded paddy crab — the curd's texture is what defines the dish, not just crab flavor stirred into a tomato soup.
Seafood
⚠ Contains: Shellfish, Egg, Soy, Fish. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 1 lb whole small crab, cleaned (or 1 cup crab meat plus 2 tbsp crab paste)
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp annatto oil
- 1 tbsp fermented shrimp paste (mam ruoc)
- 1 block fried tofu, cubed
- 6 cups water or light pork stock
- 1 lb rice vermicelli, cooked
- Perilla, mint, and other fresh herbs, to serve
Steps
- If using whole crab, pound it thoroughly with a little water and strain to extract the crab liquid and meat.
- Whisk the crab mixture with the eggs and a pinch of fish sauce.
- Bring the stock to a gentle simmer and pour in the crab-egg mixture without stirring, letting it set into a soft curd that rises to the top.
- In a separate pan, saute the tomatoes in the annatto oil until softened, then stir this into the broth along with the shrimp paste.
- Add the fried tofu and season with fish sauce.
- Divide the cooked vermicelli among bowls, ladle the broth and crab curd over the top, and serve with a generous pile of fresh herbs.