Bun Bo Hue (Vietnamese Spicy Noodle Soup)

Hello! Time for some more Vietnamese recipes!  I am particularly proud of this one because 1) Hubby is Viet so it was totally impressive for him; 2) I love spicy food; 3) it takes time and patience, which in my opinion, really shines in this dish.  There is an overnight component to this recipe so don't make it the day you want to eat it...but be sure to plan ahead instead!

Also, feel free to modify the spiciness to your desired level but this is how I make it.  Between hubby and I, the soup stock lasts us for about 3-4  meals.  

Please leave me comments and let me know how it turns out for you! I would love to hear some feedback. <3

Some food notes before I start. This recipe uses a lot of lemongrass stalks and the amount depends on how big the stalks are.  

I buy packages of lemongrass from T&T and use the whole package (less 2 stalks for the sauce) in the soup stock because they are really short.  However, I've purchased lemongrass from a Vietmanese market before and they were huge! I only needed to use about 4 stalks of those ones.

There are many brands of Vietnamese ham out there, here are some samples of ones that I've used for this dish.

Now onto the recipe!!

Ingredients:

Soup stock:

- 2-4 lbs meat bones 

(I usually include a mixture of ox tails, beef bones, ribs, and pork bones.  The more bones in the soup stock, the more flavour it will have.  Everybody's soup pot is of a different size so I would say, fill up about 1/3 of your soup stock pot with meats because you want a lot of flavour in the soup base and the meat on the bones will be eaten with the noodles so there's no waste!)

- 10-12 stalks lemongrass, bruised to release flavour

- 1 large onion, whole

- 1 knob of ginger, about size of thumb

- 2 tbsp fine shrimp paste (mam ruoc hue)

- 4 slices of canned pineapple

- 4 cloves of garlic

Soup sauce:

- 1.5 tbsp annatto seeds

- 4 tbsp grapeseed oil

- 1 large stalk of lemongrass, chopped and minced in food processor

- 3 tbsp garlic chili paste

- 2 tbsp fine shrimp paste

- Food processor or Magic Bullet

Additional meats:

- Cha Chien (Vietnamese ham or fried pork roll)

- 1/2 lbs pig feet, sliced

- 1/2 lbs pork blood, precooked and cubed

Noodles

- Quarter size portion of rice vermicelli, cooked and drained.  This should be enough for 2 people.

Garnish (all, some, or none...it's up to you)

- green onions, chopped

- cilantro, chopped

- bean sprouts, washed, cooked or uncooked

- shredded banana bossom

- lime, quartered

- basil leaves

- mint leaves

Directions:

1. Clean the meat bones by cooking it in boiling water for about 10 mins.  Use just enough water to cover bones with about 1" of clearance.  Doing this will boil the impurities out of the meat and is common in Chinese cooking.

2. Pour out the meat bones and rinse in cold water.  Be sure to clean out the pot too because there will be gunk stuck to the side of the pot.

3. Using the same pot, put the meats back into the pot along with the onion, bruised lemongrass stalk, ginger, garlic, pineapple, and 2 tbsp of the fine shrimp paste.

4. When the soup pot comes to a boil, skim off the top foam which is more impurities being released in the soup stock.  Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 3 hours (I know, it's a really slow process).

5. Let it cool down and put it in the fridge overnight.  I know, it's a pain the butt but you'll want to do this step.  This allows the fat to solidify at the top of the soup stock for easy removal.  Yes, that is actually how much fat is removed from the soup stock....EWWW right?

6.  The next day, reheat your soup stock.  While it is coming to a boil, prepare the spicy lemongrass sauce for the soup in a separate pan. 

7. Chop up a large stalk of lemongrass (or 2 small stalks of lemongrass) and mince it up using the Magic Bullet.  

8. With a non-stick pan, heat up the grapeseed oil in medium heat with the annatto seeds.  Once the pan starts sizzling, lower the heat so that it all of the colour can seep into the pan.  Make sure you don't fry the annatto seeds but get the oil hot enough so that all of the red colour is extracted from the seeds.

7.  Next, discard the annatto seeds but retain the oil.

8. Add the minced up lemongrass, chili paste, and shrimp paste, and let it mix over med/low heat for about a minute to combine the flavours.

 9. Turn off the heat and add the sauce to the soup pot along with the pork blood.  Not everybody likes to eat pork blood but it adds a lot of flavour to the soup base.  You'll see the soup turn red, just like in the restaurants! Allow the soup stock to simmer on low while you prepare the final components of this dish.

 

10. Time to start making the noodles!  Cook noodles according to noodle package.  This is the one that I use which can be found at T&T supermarket.

11. Start washing, chopping, and/or mincing your garnishes and set aside.  I like to have basil, mint, lime, beansprouts, banana bossom, green onions, and cilantro available for this dish.

12. Now arrange the noodle dishes and make it all pretty for eating! (in case you're wondering, the blue bowl is is my hubby's bowl :))

13. Scoop in the soup stock, making sure you get in some of the meat bones.  The meat should be falling off the bones and full of yummy goodness!  

When you are done with the soup base, let it cool and refrigerate the leftovers so that you have the soup stock available for the next meal.  

Easy breezy right?? Enjoy!