Banh Canh Cua Recipes

BANH CANH CUA (CRAB TAPIOCA NOODLE SOUP)

Steps:

• Add the pork hoc to the stock and cook it on a low-medium heat.
• Bring the stock to a gentle simmer, then grill the dried squid and put them into the broth.
• Cut up the jicama and daikon into large chunks.
• Turn up the heat to high and add the jicama, daikon and dehydrated scallops into the soup.
• After 40 minutes of cooking or when soft, take the hoc pieces out and set aside.Note: If you're using boneless pork, they can be sliced thinly to be used as a topping.
• Pour 1 tbsp oil into a small pan and turn the heat to low. Add the annatto seeds in and cook for 1 minute or until its color begins to change. Note: You're looking for the oil to turn red, which will color the Banh Canh Cua broth.
• Use a sieve to strain the annatto-infused oil into the broth, then season with salt, rock sugar, fish sauce and chicken bouillon powder.
• Heat up a small pan on medium heat and brown the garlic, red shallots and spring onions with 1 tbsp oil. Set it aside to cool.
• Combine the fried aromatics with salt, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, pepper, fish sauce and the prawns in a food processor, then process the ingredients into a paste.
• Heat up the oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Shape the paste into balls 2cm (0.8") wide using spoons or hands and fry them for 5 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked.
• Bring the pot to a gentle boil and add the prawn balls into the broth.
• Add the frozen crab meat in.
• Cut up the crab and place them in the soup to cook for 15 minutes or until the flesh is cooked, then remove and set aside until eating time.
• To thicken the soup, mix the starch slurry in a bowl until it forms a runny liquid. Slowly pour it into the broth on a low heat while stirring the pot consistently.
• Bring another pot of water to a boil and add the banh canh in. These noodles are already cooked, so they will only need 3-5 minutes before they can be strained and set to drip dry.
• To assemble the dish, line the bottom of your bowl with tapioca noodles then top it with the pork hoc, fried prawn balls, crab and blood jelly. Pour hot soup over the ingredients and garnish with herbs and a squeeze of lime juice!

BANH CANH CUA RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat the stock and in the meantime, in a large pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil and sautee garlic and shallots. Once they begin to brown, add shrimp, crab meat and crab paste in soy bean oil, salt and pepper. Be careful not to break a part the crab meat too much and cook until shrimp is done. Add this mixture to the pork broth/chicken stock. Bring the broth to boil and slowly add a few tbs of tapioca mixture to the broth to thicken. Be patient and don't add all at once or else it'll get too thick (if you're using fresh noodles, you can skip this step-boil the noodles in the broth which will cook the noodles and thicken the broth at the same time). Add the shrimp balls and crab claws at the end since those are already cooked. Make final seasoning adjustments to the broth. If you have the packages of precooked banh canh, boil water and place banh canh noodles in for about 2 minutes and drain. Top with some chopped scallions and cilantro. We just love beans sprouts with our soups so we add that. The consistency of this soup is thicker than most and you can't see the chunks of crab meat since it sank to the bottom.. but trust us, there was plenty of crab meat. It's a another great Vietnamese crab noodle soup that you can make along with bun rieu.