Anyone who wants banh canh cua gio heo the way it should taste has to be patient with the broth. The dish lives on a thick, bone sweet soup and fresh crab meat. The difficulty is that a long simmer left unskimmed turns the broth cloudy very quickly.
The trotter simmers for 40 minutes and then goes into ice water, while the bones and broth carry on for another 90 minutes. The broth is only thickened at the very end, when the tapioca starch is poured in slowly.
This batch weighs about 9.1kg, at roughly 69 calories per 100g.
Method
Leave the crabs tied, turn them over, lift the flap on the belly and push a knife straight into the hollow so the legs relax. Untie them, scrub them inside and out with a brush, remove the flap and the hairs, then lift the shell, discard the lungs and keep the roe.
Steam the crabs for 15 minutes, then pick out the meat.
Rub 800g pork trotter and 700g pork bones with salt to take away any smell, then rinse them well. Cut the trotter into large rounds and separate the bone from the meat.
Blanch the trotter and bones in boiling water, then rinse them again.
Cook 1kg banh canh noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes, lift them into a bowl of cold water and drain them.
Simmer 500ml water with 15g annatto seeds, boiling and stirring for 5 minutes to draw out the colored oil.
Put the trotter and pork bones in a large pot with 13.5g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1 teaspoon salt and 4 liters water. Bring it to a boil, skim the foam, then add the dried ca ngo, the onion and the shallots, lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
Lift the trotter out into a bowl of ice water and carry on simmering the broth for another 90 minutes.
Strain the broth, discard the solids, return the broth to the pot with the annatto water and top it up to 4 liters.
Season with 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon salt, 2 teaspoons MSG and 25g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, stirring until it dissolves.
Mix 60g tapioca starch with 100ml water and pour it in slowly until the broth thickens.
Add the noodles, and once the pot returns to a boil, add the crab meat and 500g crisp fried tofu and cook over medium heat.
Slice the trotter thinly, ladle the noodles into bowls, arrange the toppings and scatter over black pepper, spring onion and sawtooth herb (ngo gai).
Tips
Skimming the foam regularly through the simmer is what keeps the broth clear.
Crab meat given a quick turn in a hot pan before it goes into the pot smells much better.
Blanch the banh canh noodles, rinse them in cold water and then put them in the bowl, since straight into the pot clouds the broth.
Pour the starch slurry in a thin stream and keep stirring, since all at once it goes lumpy.
Trotter dropped into ice water the moment it comes out of the pot keeps its skin springy and its color clean.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.