How to Cook Delicious Crab Noodles Authentic to Hai Phong Flavor

How to prepare crab noodle soup

• 1

  Prepare the crab and pork ribs

  Wash the ribs thoroughly, put them in a pot of boiling water for about 2 – 3 minutes to remove any dirt. Then pour the ribs out and rinse them with water.
  Put the ribs back in the pot and cover with water, simmer on low heat for 30 – 40 minutes. You can add a few cloves of shallots (roasted until golden, peeled) for fragrance.

  Use your hands to squeeze this shell part to extract the water, then pour it back into the bowl. Repeat the squeezing and filtering process with water 1 – 2 more times to clean the crab meat and obtain a clear crab broth in a separate pot.

  Mix the crushed crab with half a large bowl of water. Use your hands to stir and gently squeeze to evenly mix the crab meat in the water. Place a sieve over the pot, gently pour the bowl of crab through the sieve, the hard shell will be retained.

  Use your hands to squeeze this shell part to extract the water, then pour it back into the bowl. Repeat the squeezing and filtering process with water 1 – 2 more times to clean the crab meat and obtain a clear crab broth in a separate pot.

  

  
• 2

  Prepare other ingredients

  Clean the pork fat, drain, and cut into small dice.

  Soak the dried shrimp in warm water until soft. Rinse with clean water.

  Soak the wood ear mushrooms in warm water for 10 – 15 minutes until soft. Rinse clean, remove the stems, and slice thinly.

  Wash the betel leaves, keeping the large leaves for wrapping, and finely chop the small or torn leaves to mix with the meat.

  Wash the tomatoes and cut into wedges. Peel the shallots and slice thinly. Clean and chop the green onions and cilantro. Clean and rinse the water spinach and salad greens. Soak the salad greens in salted water for about 15 – 20 minutes, then drain.

  If using dry rice paper, soak it in water for about 5 minutes until soft, then drain. For fresh rice paper, just rinse it with water.

  

  

  

  
• 3

  Making the crab broth

  Slowly pour the crab broth into the pot, discarding the sediment at the bottom bowl. Add a little salt to the pot and cook over medium heat. Use chopsticks to stir so the crab meat does not stick to the bottom of the pot; when the water starts to become cloudy with floating crab meat, stop stirring, otherwise the crab will have difficulty forming the cakes.

  When the crab has formed a lump and floats completely on the surface of the water, use a ladle to scoop the crab fat into a separate bowl. Leave the crab broth behind.

  
• 4

  Making the grilled betel leaf meatballs

  Mix the ground meat, wood ear mushrooms, finely chopped betel leaves, pepper, ½ teaspoon of seasoning, and 5 grams of dried onion evenly. Let it marinate for about 5 minutes.

  Lay the betel leaves flat (with the shiny green side facing down). Take 1 tablespoon of ground meat, place it horizontally on the leaf, roll the meatball up, and use the leaf stem or a toothpick to secure it to help the meatball hold together and not fall apart while frying.

  Heat oil in a pan, roll the meatballs in the pan so that the betel leaves slightly adhere to the meat. Fry over medium heat until the meatballs are evenly browned. Remove and place on a plate.

  
• 5

  Boiling water spinach

  Boil a large bowl of water in a pot, then add the water spinach to boil. Add a few grains of salt to prevent the vegetables from turning dark. Boil for 3-5 minutes, when the vegetables are just cooked, take them out and immerse them in a bowl of cold water, soaking for 5-7 minutes to keep them crunchy.

  
• 6

  Processing lard and fish cake

  Heat the pan, add the lard and pan-fry over medium heat (note not to cover the lid). When the lard has rendered down and turned golden, remove it to a separate bowl, and add all the remaining dried onions to the pan to fry until golden. Fry the onions just until they are slightly golden, then remove them as the residual lard will continue to fry them crispy.

  Pour off some of the rendered lard, leaving about 15 ml in the pan, add the crab roe and stir well, then add the crispy lard and fried onions and stir together.

  When the crab roe is cooked, remove it to a bowl; this steamed crab roe will help add color and aroma to the rice paper.

  Using the same pan that had the crab roe, add another 15 ml of lard, wait for it to heat, then add the tomatoes and stir-fry until soft but still maintaining the shape of wedges. Then add 10 ml of fish sauce, stir well, and remove the tomatoes to a separate bowl.

  Heat a little cooking oil in the pan, add the fish cake and fry over medium heat until both sides are evenly golden, then transfer to a plate and cut into bite-sized pieces about 1 cm thick.

  

  

  

  
• 7

  Making the broth

  Take the ribs out of the pot (you can use the ribs served with rice crackers), pour the filtered crab water into the bone broth. Bring to a boil again, add the soaked shrimp and blanch until the shrimp is soft, then remove. Next, add tomatoes, bring to a boil, and season with 2 teaspoons of seasoning powder.

  Blanch the rice crackers briefly in a separate pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes until just cooked (do not blanch in the broth as it will make the water cloudy and thick). Remove the rice crackers and divide evenly into bowls. Arrange the grilled minced beef wrapped in betel leaves, fish paste, water spinach, shrimp, steamed crab roe, fried onions, and coriander to serve.

  To make rice crackers with broth: Pour the broth evenly into the bowl. Serve hot with fresh herbs.

  For mixed rice crackers:

  Dissolve 30 ml of fish sauce, 30 ml of soy sauce, 30 gr of sugar, 50 ml of filtered water, and the juice of half a lemon (about 25 ml) to make the sauce for mixing the rice crackers.

  Drizzle 2-3 teaspoons of the sauce into the bowl and mix well. If you like it spicy, you can add a bit of satay. Enjoy with a small bowl of broth.

  
• 8

  The final product

  The rice crackers are soft and chewy, not mushy. The broth is rich with crab flavor, fragrant with crab roe and coriander, mixed with the aroma of grilled minced beef wrapped in betel leaves and various side dishes.