Bun Bo Hue Recipe: How To Make Authentic Hue Spicy Noodle Soup
A bold and flavorful soup, this Bun Bo Hue recipe is for one of Vietnam’s most famous soups, rivaling Pho. It's a rich and soulful soup loaded with tender slices of beef and pork and fragrant herbs. With each exceptionally delicious bite, you’ll find yourself craving this Hue-style noodle soup even more.
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Servings: 6
Calories: 1184kcal
Equipment
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Ingredients
For the broth
- 400 g Pork leg meat
- 600 g Brisket
- 900 g Oxtail
- 40 g ginger root 1-inch
- 3 garlic cloves
- 4-6 stems lemongrass
- 2 cubes concentrated chicken cubes
- 2 tbsp fermented shrimp sauce
- water
For the sate sauce or spicy condiment
- 2 tbsp annatto seeds
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 6 Vietnamese chili peppers
- 4 garlic cloves
- 120 g white onion
- 40-50 g ginger root
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 1 tsp chili powder powdered
Garnishes and other ingredients
- 400 g Hue-style rice noodles
- 1 Banana flower or small red cabbage
- 400 g Congealed pig’s blood frozen
- 1 handful mint leaves fresh
- 10 chili peppers
- Sprouted beans optional
Instructions
For the broth
- Clean and rinse the oxtail, pork leg, and brisket under plenty of running water. Place in a large broth pot and cover with water over high heat. You will see a dense foam beginning to form on the surface; remove as much foam as possible.
- After about 10- minutes, turn off the stove and place the meat in a colander; discard the cooking liquid; and rinse again.
- Using a blunt object hit the lemongrass stalks or cut them a little to extract the flavors. Peel the ginger root and cut it into large pieces.
- Place the meat in a large pot with about three liters of water, the chicken cubes, fermented shrimp sauce, lemongrass, ginger, and half a teaspoon of salt.
- Cook for approximately three hours on medium heat. Remove the meat from the pot when it is soft and tender. Cut it into pieces.
- Keep the hot broth and discard any bones that fall off.
For the sate sauce or spicy condiment
- Peel and thinly slice onion. Slice the lemongrass stalks into circular pieces. Slice the fresh chilies, if you like spice, leave the seeds; if not, remove them. Peel and crush the garlic.
- Pour vegetable oil into a small sauce pan with the annatto seeds. Cook for about five minutes until the oil turns deep orange.
- Allow the oil to cool down for a few minutes and then strain it through a metal strainer to remove the annatto seeds. Keep oil and set some aside. Discard the seeds.
- In the same small sauce pan, fry onions, chili peppers, lemongrass stalks, and minced garlic.
- Add strained oil to the pot. Add peeled and grated ginger, a teaspoon of chili powder, and salt to taste. Feel free to adjust the seasoning to taste. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Place about 2 to 4 tablespoons of sate sauce in a glass bowl and set aside for serving.
- Add the rest of the sate sauce to the large pot with soup broth where you cooked the meat.
- Cook sate sauce with soup broth for about 20 minutes until the hot broth has a robust orange color.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Garnishes and other ingredients
- Wash the banana flower very well; rub your hands with cooking oil to protect them from the flower sap. Remove the purple flower petals one by one. Between the petals, you will find the pistils; separate them so you can use them to serve the soup. Inside each small flower is a harder petal. Remove it as well. When you have used up the purple petals, slice the heart of the banana flower, it is the edible part (but this should be done only when serving because they tend to darken).
- In another pot of water, cook Hun Bo Hue noodles according to the package instructions.
- Cut the pork blood into cubes and place into pot with water. Cook for 10-15 minutes on low heat. If you cook it over high heat, it can disintegrate.
Assemble the noodle soup
- Divide the Bun Bo Hue noodles and place them in the bottom of the bowls.
- Add thinly sliced pieces of pork and beef to each bow. Add pork blood pieces.
- Using a ladle, fill each bowl with hot Bun Bo Hue broth
- Garnish with pieces of banana blossom, chili peppers, fresh herbs, lime wedges and bean sprouts.
- Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
Feel free to adjust seasonings and spice levels using fermented shrimp paste, chilies, and chili powder.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 1184kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 84g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 275mg | Sodium: 628mg | Potassium: 1081mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1275IU | Vitamin C: 177mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 11mg
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