← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 800 g pork bones or ribs
• 2.5 l Water
• 300 g Daikon radish, cut into chunks
• 1 Onion, halved
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Fish sauce
• 3 tbsp Tapioca starch
• 6 tbsp cold water, for the slurry
• 1 tsp Annatto seeds (hạt điều màu)
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Shallot, minced
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 300 g cooked crab meat
• 12 raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 800 g fresh bánh canh tapioca noodles
• 3 Spring onion, sliced
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro), chopped
• 3 tbsp Crispy fried shallots
• 1 Lime, cut into wedges
• black pepper, to finish

Method

1. Cover the bones with cold water, boil hard for 5 min, then drain and rinse. Return them to the clean pot with the 2.5 litres of water, daikon and onion. Simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming, then strain and season with salt, sugar and fish sauce.
2. Warm the annatto seeds in the oil over low heat for 2–3 min until the oil turns deep orange-red. Strain out the seeds.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of the annatto oil in a pan and fry the shallot and garlic for 1 minute. Add the crab meat and a good pinch of pepper and stir gently for 2 minutes. Set aside.
4. Bring the broth back to a simmer and poach the prawns for 2–3 min until pink; lift them out. Stir in the rest of the annatto oil.
5. Whisk the tapioca starch with the cold water, then stir it into the simmering broth. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the broth turns lightly thick and glossy.
6. Cook the noodles in a separate pan of boiling water for 2–3 min (or as the packet says), drain and divide between bowls. Ladle over the broth and top with crab, prawns, spring onion, coriander, fried shallots, pepper and lime.

Tips

• Crab and prawns are shellfish; check for allergies.
• Thick udon can stand in for bánh canh noodles, but it contains wheat, so the dish is then not gluten-free.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Wok and Kin Vicky Pham