Bun Rieu - the Works

This is a popular Vietnamese noodle soup made with crab and shrimp.  There are a lot of ingredients in this soup, some are optional and are noted in the recipe.  Great for family get togethers.  This recipe is for a very large pot.

Ingredients:
2 medium yolllow onions
2 large shallots
4-6 ripe tomatoes
2 cans minced prawns and spices (14 oz)
1.5 pounds of ground pork
10 large eggs
1 pound of peeled shrimp (optional)
2 tablespoons shrimp paste (optional)
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sauteed shrimp paste (optional)
2 teaspoons chopped lemongrass
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 can fancy crab meat (optional)
2 packets tamarind soup mix (1.4 oz)
1 dikon radish (peeled and cubed into 1/2" x 3" fingers)
fish sauce - to taste
chicken broth - to taste
water to fill pot (16 quarts? it's big)
- reduce the ingredients by half for a smaller pot
* You will garnish with fresh herbs to your tastes and budget and availabilty.
Suggested herbs:
Green Shiso
Purple Shiso
Red Leaf Lettuce (shredded)
Mint
Basil
Ong Choy
Cilantro
Culantro

Dice onions, shallots and cut tomatoes into 6ths or 8ths.  Thaw and peel shrimp.  Peel and cut dikon.  Open both cans of minced shrimp and/or minced crab and one can of crab meat.

Add olive oil to large pot on high heat.  Stir in onions and shallots.  Add white pepper and saute until onions begin to become translucent.  Add in shrimp paste and one can of minced crab or minced shrimp and continue to stir until mixture begins to boil.  Stir in tomatoes and allow mixture to simmer for about 2-3 minutes.  Meanwhile adding in chicken broth, tamarind broth, and fish sauce.  Add water to bring pot up to 2/3 full and return it to high heat.  Add diakon at this point too.

In a large bowl, add ground pork, chopped shrimp that has been peeled, lemongrass, crab meat, 7 eggs, and sauteed shrimp paste.  Incorporate everything well.  Set aside until soup begins to boil.

In another bowl, mix the remaining eggs with the second can of minced shrimp or crab in spices. Set this aside also until the soup broth begins to boil.

Add in the egg mixture and allow the soupd to reset for a minute or two.  Stir from the bottom gently to make sure nothing is sitting on the bottom of the pot.

Add in the meat mixture a spoonfull at a time.  The intent is to create small clumps, but not meatballs.  Allow the soup to continue boiling for 2-3 minutes, then again stir it gently from the bottom and check the progress of the clumps of meat.

Once the soup has all ingredients incorporated, allow it to simmer on the stove at least until the diakon pieces are tender, but longer is better.  Finishing the soup, you will want to boil your noodles (bun) and allow them to sit aside until they cool.  You will also find this soup enjoyable with garnishes such as Ong Choy, lettuce, mint, basil, shiso, and even some fried tofu.  There is one other stem of a plant that is quite thick, but I don't know the name of it.  We prepare and wash the vegetables and sit them on the table for people to add into their soup.  The lettuce is cut up and the leafy plants are destemmed and mixed with the lettuce and ong choy, washed and drained and sit center table for each person to serve themselves.  We also add fried fish cakes with dill which we prepare ourselves.