Quick Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup (Bun Rieu)

Quoc Viet Foods recently hooked me up with Pork Flavored Soup Base. My family and I have been using their other soup bases for years and I was super excited to try it out this new soup base and it surely did not disappoint.

Lately, I’ve been a fan of making Bún Riêu with pork broth so I decided to make an ultra-quick but still delicious pot of Bún Riêu Cua, Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup with it. Pork broth usually takes me over 2 hours to make, but with Quoc Viet Food’s Pork Flavored soup base, I cut the broth cooking time down significantly and prepared dinner within an hour. The soup base is super flavorful and well-balanced. I just needed to add a few tablespoons of soup base into a pot of boiling water, seasoned it to taste with some salt and sugar, and the broth was ready to go. So eazy and still so tasty!

For this quick Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup version, I skipped the pork riblets, tofu, and pork blood and just focused on making a phenomenal Crab/Shrimp Rieu mixture. Just keeping it rieu…felt kinda weird having so much leftover time and I kinda liked it. When you make this, feel free to put in whatever protein you like!

Quoc Viet Foods has over a dozen Vietnamese Soup Bases, including many Vegan friendly options as well. If you love Vietnamese noodle soups and don’t want to spend hours making broth, this is a very legit soup base option to satisify your noodz needs. Check them out and use the coupon code nolimitcooking for 5% off and save you some $$$.

Ingredients:
12 cups filter water in a 6-qt pot
1/4 cup Quoc Viet Pork Flavored Soup Base, more to taste
1 lb lump crab meat
1 lb shrimp, minced
1/2 cup dried shrimp, soaked, drained, and processed (optional)
7 oz. Canned Minced Crab in Spices
3.5 oz. Crab Paste with Soya Bean Oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 tablespoons corn starch
1.5 tablespoons Shrimp Paste
1 teaspoons sugar
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 Green Onions, chopped in 2 inch pieces
8 oz. firm tofu, cubed and fried (Optional)

Accompaniments:
Vermicelli Noodles
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bunch mint leaves, washed and picked
1 bunch perilla leaves, washed and picked
1 bunch banana blossom or water spinach, washed, and shredded
If water spinach is not available, substitute 1/2 cabbage, washed and shredded
2 limes, sliced
1 bag bean sprouts
Thai chilis

Steps:

Make Rieu (Crab/Shrimp mixture) – Add crab, shrimp, dried shrimp, eggs, corn starch, canned minced crab in spices, crab paste with soya bean oil, and shrimp paste into a medium mixing bowl.  Mix well.

Sauté Tomatoes – Heat a skillet on medium heat, add oil, and fry tomato paste for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomatoes and sauté tomatoes for 2-3 minutes.  

Make Bún Riêu Broth – Add water to a 6-quart pot and bring to a boil. Add Quoc Viet Pork Flavored Soup Base. Season to taste. Once the broth is boiling rigorously, turn the heat down to medium high and use a soup spoon to slowly scoop the rieu into the broth to cook for about 20-25 minutes. Add sautéed tomatoes and chopped green onions, mix, and season to taste.

Assemble Bún Riêu Bowl – Add 5 ounces of cooked vermicelli noodles in a bowl. Ladle in a few cups of Bún Riêu broth plus rieu mixture and tomatoes. Top each bowl with fresh herbs and enjoy.

Tips:

• For ingredients that might not be very clear, I added a link in the Ingredients list for you to see what it looks like. You can usually find everything at a local Asian grocery store, but if you don’t have access, you can always order online.
• I started with 1/4 cup of soup base but after the soup base dissolves, make sure you season it to taste. Add additional salt and sugar as needed.
• This is a much simpler and smaller version of my original Bun Rieu recipe from 2014.
• The suggested Accompaniments list the fresh herbs and veggies I enjoy with my Bún Riêu, but you can pick and choose whatever you like!
• You can substitute fish sauce for shrimp paste if you don’t have Shrimp Paste.