Bun Oc Chuoi Dau (Snail Noodle Soup with Banana and Tofu), No Added Refined Sugar
Vietnamese dishesNoodle SoupsNorthern Vietnam60 minutes, not counting 2 to 3 hours soaking the snails
Bun oc chuoi dau gives you a pot with a soft sourness from fermented rice starter and snails with a firm, springy bite. The real work is cleaning the snails, because any slime left behind turns the whole pot fishy.
The snails soak for 2 to 3 hours, are picked out of their shells and then rubbed hard with salt and vinegar. The green bananas are split in two lots, half boiled and mashed to thicken the pot, half fried golden so the pieces hold. The tofu is fried before it goes in, so it soaks up the broth without falling apart.
This batch weighs about 9.3kg, at roughly 90 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak the snails for 2 to 3 hours in water with chopped chili, rinse them under running water, then boil with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend. Once the water boils, cook for another 3 minutes, then lift them out to cool.
Pick the snail meat out with a toothpick, remove the dark tail end, rub it hard with 2 tablespoons salt and 2 tablespoons vinegar, then rinse and drain.
Cut the pork belly into small pieces and marinate with 1 teaspoon MSG, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 tablespoon fish sauce for 20 minutes.
Peel the bananas and cut into lengths, then soak for 20 minutes in salted water with 3 tablespoons vinegar to draw out the sap, and rinse again. Boil 3 of them until soft and mash, and fry the other 3 golden in 100ml cooking oil.
Cut the tofu into cubes. Add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder to the oil left from the bananas and fry the tofu for about 5 minutes until golden.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pot and fry 1 teaspoon minced shallot, 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 1 teaspoon mam tom. Add the pork and stir until firm, then add the fried banana, 150ml fermented rice starter, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 3 liters water.
Once it boils, season with 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 tablespoon MSG, lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. Add the tofu and cook for another 15 minutes.
Fry the remaining garlic and shallot in 1 tablespoon oil, add 1 teaspoon mam tom, stir fry the snails over high heat for 1 minute, then tip them into the pot and stir for 3 minutes.
Add the mashed banana and 50g crushed peanuts, cook for another 3 minutes, drop in the chopped herbs and chili, then turn off the heat. Ladle over bowls of noodles and serve with the fresh greens.
Tips
A knife or a fork dropped into the soaking basin makes the snails spit out their grit faster.
Rub the snail meat with salt and vinegar, rinse it well and take off the dark tail end to clear the slime.
Soaking the bananas in water with vinegar draws out the sap and stops them going black.
A minute in a hot pan on their own, before they meet the pot, keeps the snails springy.
Crushed peanuts added at the very end keep their nutty texture.
The me (fermented rice starter) goes in at the end, strained through a sieve, since a long boil turns the pot sharply sour and dulls the aroma.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.