Mom's Cooking Diary: banh canh noodle

This was actually an experimental dish, but it turned out pretty good. Traditionally, this dish is made with pig feet. Another version calls for crab but we used what was in our fridge/freezer.

water (6 cups)
chicken broth (3 cans)
pork
shrimp
fishcake
shrimp balls (or any other kind)
banh canh (about 4 bags for this much soup)
tomatoes (3)
shallots (about 6 or 7)
chicken bouillon powder
vegetable oil
pepper
soy sauce
starch
tamarind powder
fish sauce or salt (optional)
green onions/mint to garnish

First, bring up to a boil 6 cups of water and 3 cans of chicken stock. While it's working up to a boil, you can prep your other ingredients.

Here's some of the items that will be used

cut the tomatoes into wedges and shallots into pieces

The amount of pork used is really up to you. Marinade the pork with a drizzle of oil, 1 tsp of chicken bouillon powder, a tbsp of soy sauce, a few dashes of pepper and a tbsp of starch.

also peel and de-vein your shrimp (we used about 10-12 head on shrimps) Cut into pieces.

In a separate pan, stir your shallots in a tbsp of oil for about a minute

Then add in your tomatoes

By this time, your broth should be about boiling. Add the shallots and tomatoes into the soup. Give the shrimp a quick stir and add that to the soup as well.

After the boiling resumes, you can directly add the pork in

While you wait to bring the soup back to a boil, you can give your shrimp balls a quick rinse and slice your fish cake.

At this time, you can fish out the tomato skin. Also, scoop out the foam that's floating atop.

Add the fish cake and shrimp ball. At the time, you should also add the tamarind powder. start with about 1 tbsp and adjust accordingly. If the broth is still a little bland, you can add either salt or fish sauce. If you prefer it a little more sour, add more of the tamarind. The soup is basically done at the point.

If you are serving to a group (this recipe probably makes for 10+ servings), then you can directly add the noodles to the pot and leave it to boil until the noodles are at the consistency you prefer.