For our One-year Anniversary, I created a unique design of this post in a theme of a scientific article, check it out here!
Vietnamese version (bản tiếng Việt): click here!
As a Vietnamese from blood, even though Pho represents our cuisine, I have to admit that I don’t love Pho as much as I love Bun Bo Hue, or so called Spicy beef noodles soup in Vietnamese-American restaurant. Same to my boyfriend who tried the Spicy beef noodles soup once and totally fell in love with it.
As the name states, the dish originates from the middle region of Vietnam, Hue, the city was once the capital of the country during the Nguyen Dynasty. When it came to other regions of the country, the dish was modified a little bit, for example in the south, people preferred a sweeter taste.
Compare to Pho, Bun Bo Hue requires fewer ingredients and less time to prepare, but somehow it’s not easy to make it good. I had a hard time to find a good place of Bun Bo Hue in Arizona and even in Saigon so I always ask my grandmother to cook it for me. When moving to the US for study, I was lucky to find Pho Cao restaurant serving Vietnamese food with amazing taste that is close to the one I had in Vietnam, including Bun Bo Hue (or Spicy Beef Noodle soup in their menu). Yet the place is in another town, and consider the budget of a student, I cannot go there regularly. But I love it too much (same to my boyfriend)… so I came up with the “project” of cooking Bun Bo Hue at home. With a big help from the spice paste and spice cubes, I was able to create similar taste that I’m craved for.
Here is how the spice cubes and spice paste look like. They are available in any Vietnamese grocery stores (or Amazon). It’s convenient to me (for storage purpose) that I don’t have to buy the specific Hue shrimp paste for this recipe and end up stink my refrigerator or spice cabinet.
Shout out to my boyfriend for helping me with the grocery and the Crockpot.
Ingredients: (for 3-4 servings)
- Beef broth: 1 L
- Water: 4.5 – 5 L (1.5 L for the broth + 3-3.5 L for the noodles)
- Beef shank: 2.76 lbs (~ 1.2 kg)
- “Bun Bo Hue” spice cube: 2 cubes
- “Bun Bo Hue” spice paste: 2 spoonful
- Sugar: 1 tablespoon
- Rice noodle for “Bun Bo Hue”: 450-500 grams (at least ~150 grams per serving)
- Shallot, garlic, black peppercorns, coriander seeds for the broth
- Spring onions and julinenned onions as garnish (and cilantro if you prefer)
Preparation:
- In a large pot, combine the beef broth with 1.5 L of water and bring it to boil on medium-high heat. When the broth boiled, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the beef shanks to the broth. Remove any scums floating on the surface of the broth.
- When there are very little to no scums remained, season the broth with the spice cubes and spice paste. You can crush the spice cubes to smaller pieces in a separate bowl (or better, fine powder, with a little help from hot broth).
- Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a slow cooker. Add more flavor by adding shallots, garlic, black peppercorns and coriander seeds to the broth. They can be placed in a disposable tea bag (or herb infuser) to be removed easily later on. Place the lid on and set it at “High” for 2.5 – 3 hours. (To be specific, I used my boyfriend’s Crockpot and this step is to tenderize the beef shank and let it absorb seasoning from the broth)
- In another pot, boil approximately 3-3.5 L of water and add the rice noodles to the boiling water. Reduce the heat to medium heat (or medium-low) to keep the water boiling. Stir occasionally to the starch released from rice noodles not sticking to the bottom of the pot and getting burnt. Let the noodles cook until fully soften (at least 30 minutes). (This step should be done while the broth is being cooked in the slow cooker)
- When the noodles are soften, strain and rinse with copious amount of cold water to wash out the starchy water. Leave the noodles in the strainer (to drain) until serving. When serving, place the rice noodles in a large bowl (at least 7 in. in diameter) and top with few julienned onions and chopped spring onions.
- When the broth is done (i.e. after 2.5-3h in the Crockpot), dispose the spices tea bag. Take out the beef shanks and cut them into bite-size pieces then place them in the serving bowl (that already has rice noodles in it). The very last step is to pour the hot broth into the bowl and… enjoy!
Total time: 3.5 hours
You will never see this much meat in restaurant
And that’s it for this “convenient” recipe of “Bun Bo Hue”, a.k.a. Spicy beef noodle soup. Hope you enjoy and make it at home someday! 😉😊
For me, I guess we’re gonna make it again soon as someone else is addicted to the flavor ever since Thanksgiving. Hehe… 😝😋
Updated: We made it with the pressure cooker function of the Ninja Multicooker and it was amazing as well.
- On the menu of the Ninja Multicooker, choose “Sear/Sauté” function, choose “Medium” heat and sear the fatty edge of beef shanks (optional) inside the pot. Then add cold, filtered water to the pot and bring to boil (still at “Medium” heat on Sear/Sauté function). Remove scums to have clear broth and season the broth as mentioned above. Then add the tea bag containing black peppercorns, coriander seeds, onions, garlics… to the pot, cover with the pressure cooker lid and switch to the “Pressure” function, set it at “High” for 30-45 minutes. The rest was the same to cooking in the Crockpot
Homemade spicy beef noodle soup (Bun Bo Hue)
Equipment
- 1 Pressure cooker (Ninja multicooker) optional but recommended
- 1 Slow cooker optional but recommended
Ingredients
For the broth
- 1 L Beef broth/stock
- 2.76 lbs Beef shank
- 1.5 L Water
- Shallot, garlic, black peppercorns, coriander seeds… for the broth
For the rice noodles
- 500 grams Rice noodle for “Bun Bo Hue”
- 3-3.5 L Water to boil the noodles
Seasoning with spice cube(s)
- 2 cubes “Bun Bo Hue” spice cube
- 2 tbsp “Bun Bo Hue” spice paste
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Chili oil/Chili crisp
Seasoning WITHOUT spice cube(s)
- 3 tsp Fish sauce
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp “Bun Bo Hue” spice paste
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Mushroom bouillon powder
- 1 tsp Chili oil/Chili crisp
Garnish
- Spring onions and julinenned onions (and cilantro if you prefer)
Instructions
Method #1: Using a Crockpot
- In a large pot, combine the beef broth with 1.5 L of water and bring it to boil on medium-high heat. When the broth boiled, reduce the heat to medium-low and add the beef shanks to the broth. Remove any scums floating on the surface of the broth.
- When there are very little to no scums remained, season the broth with either way of seasoning (with & without spice cubes) mentioned above. You can crush the spice cubes to smaller pieces in a separate bowl (or better, fine powder, with a little help from hot broth).
- Turn off the heat and transfer everything to a slow cooker. Add more flavor by adding shallots, garlic, black peppercorns and coriander seeds to the broth. They can be placed in a disposable tea bag (or herb infuser) to be removed easily later on. Place the lid on and set it at “High” for 2.5 – 3 hours. (To be specific, I used my boyfriend’s Crockpot and this step is to tenderize the beef shank and let it absorb seasoning from the broth)
Method #2: Using a Ninja multicooker
- On the menu of the Ninja Multicooker, choose “Sear/Sauté” function, choose “Medium” heat and sear the fatty edge of beef shanks (optional) inside the pot.
- Then add cold, filtered water to the pot and bring to boil (still at “Medium” heat on Sear/Sauté function). Remove scums to have clear broth and season the broth with two ways mentioned above.
- Then add the tea bag containing black peppercorns, coriander seeds, onions, garlics… to the pot, cover with the pressure cooker lid and switch to the “Pressure” function, set it at “High” for 30-45 minutes.
Boiling the rice noodles
- In another pot, boil approximately 3-3.5 L of water and add the rice noodles to the boiling water. Reduce the heat to medium heat (or medium-low) to keep the water boiling. Stir occasionally to the starch released from rice noodles not sticking to the bottom of the pot and getting burnt. Let the noodles cook until fully soften (at least 30 minutes). (This step should be done while the broth is being cooked in the slow cooker or the pressure cooker)
- When the noodles are soften, strain and rinse with copious amount of cold water to wash out the starchy water. Leave the noodles in the strainer (to drain) until serving.
Plating
- When serving, place the rice noodles in a large bowl (at least 7 in. in diameter).
- When the broth is done (i.e. after 2.5-3h in the Crockpot), dispose the spices tea bag. Take out the beef shanks and cut them into bite-size pieces then place them in the serving bowl (that already has rice noodles in it). Top with few julienned onions and chopped spring onions.
- The very last step is to pour the hot broth into the bowl and… enjoy!
