
Vietnamese Bún riêu is a tomato and crab soup with rice noodles. It’s one of my favorites, and is so much easier to cook than it looks.
Here’s my version of the traditional dish, using extra tomatoes, pork, crab & shrimp meatballs and soft tofu.
As always, start organized. Get your mise en place in order.

Bring 5 32oz Chicken Stock to a boil. Add 2 tsp shrimp paste.


About halfway through, add the larger tomato slices into the broth. Finish meatballing then add the rest of the tomatoes. Stir. Add tofu. Add half of your bean sprout supply. Stir then simmer. Taste in about 10 minutes and add fish sauce or shrimp paste as needed.


Slurp up and take a nap. Enjoy!
Mel


- 4 plum tomatoes, sliced into eighths
- 3 beefsteak tomatoes, quartered
- 15.5 oz box of soft tofu, sliced into small cubes
- 1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled, diced
- 1 bag of thin rice vermicelli noodles
- 160 oz chicken stock (or 5 boxes of 32 oz)
- 4 tsp shrimp paste
- 1.5 lb ground pork
- 1 lb crabmeat
- 14 oz minced crab in spices
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 bag bean sprouts
- green onions for garnish
- fine shrimp sauce (mam tom) as condiment
- Slice plum tomatoes into eighths
- Slice beefsteak tomatoes into quarters
- Slice tofu into cubes
- Peel, dice raw shrimp
- Boil and drain noodles
- Boil chicken stock in a large stock pot. Add 2 tsp shrimp paste.
- In a large mixing bowl, add ground pork, crabmeat, minced crab in spices, 2 tsp shrimp paste, shrimp, salt, pepper, fish sauce. Mix.
- Using an ice cream scooper, scoop one scoopful of mixture and slowly dip into the boiling chicken stock. Leave submerged for 2 seconds (scoop facing upwards), then turn wrist allowing meatball to fall into the broth. Repeat for half of meatball mixture.
- Add beefsteak tomato into broth.
- Finish adding meatballs to broth, followed by adding plum tomatoes and tofu. Stir. Add half bag of bean sprouts. Stir. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add fish sauce and/or shrimp paste to taste.
- Add a small handful of noodles to bowl. Pour broth over, add equal amounts of meatballs, tofu and tomatoes. Garnish with green onion and raw bean sprouts. Add a small scoop of Mam Tom optional.