''Bún riêu'' is a traditional Vietnamese

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

of clear stock and

rice vermicelli Rice vermicelli is a thin form of rice noodle. It is sometimes referred to as "rice noodles" or "rice sticks", but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch r ...

. There are several varieties of ''bún riêu'', including ''bún riêu cua'' (minced crab), ''bún riêu cá'' (minced crab and fish) and ''bún riêu ốc'' (minced crab and snail). Vietweek May 18th 2012 print editio
The market beyond the hedge
"Not surprisingly, seasoned shoppers at Phung Hung delight in the fermented fiat of a soup so pungent, it makes bún riêu seem like a Cup-o-Noodles.

Bún mắm ''Bún mắm'' is a Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese vermicelli soup made from fermented fish called ''mắm'', sometimes called "Vietnamese gumbo." Etymology Food reviewer Mike Sula explains, "''Bun'' refers to the steamed rice vermicelli, whi ...

allegedly came from the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, where Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese communities have intermingled for centuries."

Production

''Bún riêu cua'' is served with

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

broth and topped with minced

freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight family (biology), families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine c ...

. In this dish, various freshwater paddy crabs are used, including the brown paddy crab found in rice paddies in Vietnam. The crabs are cleaned to remove dirt and sand, then pounded together (with the shell still on) into a fine paste. This paste is then strained — the liquid becoming the base for the soup along with tomato, and the solids used as the basis for crab cakes. Other ingredients for this dish include

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

paste, fried

tofu or bean curd is a food prepared by Coagulation (milk), coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', and ''extra (or super) firm''. It originated in Chin ...

, '' mẻ'' or '' giấm bỗng'' (kinds of

rice vinegar Rice vinegar is a vinegar made from rice wine in East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), as well as in Vietnam in Southeast Asia. It is used as a seasoning, dressing, and dipping in many dishes, including sushi, jiaozi, and banchans. Some of its varia ...

), ''quả dọc'' ('' Garcinia multiflora''),

annatto Annatto ( or ) is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree (''Bixa orellana''), native to tropics, tropical parts of the Americas. It is often used to impart a yellow to red-orange color to foods, but ...

seeds (''hạt điều màu'') to redden the broth, ''huyết'' (congealed pig's blood), split water spinach stems, shredded

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

flower, ''rau kinh giới'' (''

Elsholtzia ciliata ''Elsholtzia ciliata'', commonly known as Vietnamese balm, comb mint, xiang ru (香薷) or ''kinh giới'' in Vietnamese, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae native to Asia. In the US, it is commonly known as Crested Late Summer Mint. I ...

''),

spearmint Spearmint (''Mentha spicata''), also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many othe ...

perilla ''Perilla'' is a genus consisting of one major Asiatic crop species '' Perilla frutescens'' and a few wild species in nature belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus encompasses several distinct varieties of Asian herb, seed, and vege ...

bean sprouts Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

and '' chả chay'' (vegetarian sausage). This dish is rich in nutrition:

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

from the ground crab shells, iron from the congealed pig's blood, and vitamins and fiber from the vegetables. ''Bún riêu'' has a fresh sour flavor, so Vietnamese people like to enjoy it in summer. There are many restaurants in Vietnam that sell this dish.

Ingredients

* Paddy crabs (crab meat and crab roe) (''cua đồng'', ''gạch cua'') *

Tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

(''cà chua'') *

Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

* Souring agents like ''Garcinia multiflora'' (''quả dọc''),

dracontomelon ''Dracontomelon'' (Vietnamese: ''chi sấu''Phạm Hoàng Hộ (2003) ''Cây Cỏ Việt Nam: an Illustrated Flora of Vietnam'' vol. II publ. Nhà Xuẩt Bản Trẻ, HCMC, VN.) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, growing ...

(''quả sấu''),

(''quả me''),

starfruit Carambola, also known as star fruit, is the fruit of ''Averrhoa carambola'', a species of tree native to tropical Southeast Asia. The edible fruit has distinctive ridges running down its sides (usually 5–6). When cut in cross-section, it res ...

(''quả khế''),

(''mẻ'' or ''giấm bỗng'') *

Onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

* Fried

* Accompanying greens: sliced banana flowers (''hoa chuối thái nhỏ''), water spinach ('' rau muống'') *Herbs:

(''tía tô''), Vietnamese balm (kinh giới)

References

External links

Kỳ lạ... bún riêu cua
LANHUONG, Băng Sơn Hà Nội mới 11:16 15/10/2007 Vietnamese soups Crab dishes Vietnamese seafood dishes Noodle soups Vietnamese noodle dishes {{vietnam-cuisine-stub

Production

Ingredients

See also

References

External links