Bun rieu

Broth: Add water to a 5lt pot and boil. When the water is boiling, add in the noodles and cook until they are al dente. Strain the noodles and rinse with cold water. Set it aside.

Take a large stock pot and put the pork bones in it. Fill with water and boil for a few minutes and discard the water. Add 4.5lt of fresh water to the pork bones again and boil for an hour or longer. (The longer you boil the better the broth will be.)

Peel shrimps. Put the peeled shells in the boiling broth. Broth will turn red from the shrimp shells (after around 20 mins). Remove the shells and pork bones from the broth.

Add the tamarind powder, 1 tsp of shrimp paste, 3 tbsp of crab paste, 3 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of salt, and 1 tbsp of black pepper into the broth and let it boil.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters, saute the pieces, and add them to the broth last to give it a redder colour.

Meatballs: Put 900g of peeled shrimp, 5 eggs, 3 tbsp of crab paste, 1 tsp of shrimp paste, 1 tsp salt, ½ cup of water, 1.5 tsp of sugar, 2 shallots, 1 bunch of green onions, and 1 white onion into a food processor. Pulse ingredients together into a paste.

Gently fold the crab meat with the shrimp mixture and ground pork until uniform.

Boil the broth from above. When it is boiling take the meatball mixture and make free formed meatballs with a spoon putting them into the broth. Add the fried tofu at this point. The meatballs are cooked when they start floating to the top.

For toppings, chop up the remaining green onions from the bunch and cilantro bunch – slice the remaining white onion thinly – quarter the limes.

To assemble, put noodles in a bowl, add any of the toppings/garnishes. Ladle in the soup with tomatoes and meatballs. Squeeze some lime and add some chilli sate.