Bun Rieu Chay is a vegetarian version of the classic Vietnamese noodle soup, featuring rice vermicelli in a tangy tomato broth, enriched with tofu and fresh herbs.
Ingredients
Annatto oil:
1cupavocado oil, or any neutral oil
1Tbspannatto seeds
Broth:
1/3 cupannatto oil for frying
3onions, peeled, cut in halves
3largeshallots, cut in halves
½cupmushroom powder
½cupkosher salt, plus 2 Tbsp
1Tbsprock sugar
2Tbsptamarind paste
3Fuji apples, peeled
2Asian pears, peeled
3chayotes, peeled
1jicama, peeled
1opo squash, peeled
1cabbage, whole
1napa cabbage, whole
2corn on the cob
4king oyster mushrooms
8ozwhite button mushroom
2portobello mushrooms
¼cupvegan fish sauce
1bunchcilantro stems, stems only and not the leaves
Tomato mix:
5Tbspannatto oil
2leeks, white part only, chopped
2largeshallots, chopped
3clovesgarlic, chopped
110 oz jarfermented bean curd, strained
¼cuptomato paste
3tomatoes, chopped
½Tbspkosher salt
½tspblack pepper
Tofu crumble mix:
¼cupleek, white part only, minced and sauteed
414 oz firm tofu, crumbled
8ozwhite mushroom, minced
8ozbrown mushroom, minced
¼cupmushroom powder
20eggs
⅓cupannatto oil
⅓cuptomato mix
1tspkosher salt
½tspblack pepper
1tspsugar
Remaining ingredients:
2lb bagvermicelli noodles
414 ozsoft tofu, deep fried
8tomatoes, quartered
8green onions, cut in one inch lengths, smashed
¼cupannatto oil
Optional garnish:
green onions, chopped
cilantro, chopped
bean sprouts
water spinach, thinly sliced
cabbage or red leaf lettuce, julienned
basil
mint leaves
perilla leaves
lime wedges
Instructions
Annatto oil:
Add ½ cup oil to a pan. Heat, and once oil is hot, remove pan from heat. Add annatto seeds, stir and let sit for 5 minutes for the red coloring from the annatto seeds to seep out. Strain the oil into a small bowl and set aside for later use.
Broth:
In a 24 quart pot, add annatto oil and fry the onions and shallots until they are nice and brown on both sides.
Add the rest of the broth ingredients and fill pot all the way to the rim with water.
Bring it to a boil, then turn heat down and let it simmer for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, strain the broth. Try to squeeze out the vegetables as they hold a lot of water.
Transfer to a 16 quart pot.
Tomato mix:
In a pan, on medium high heat, add 5 tablespoons of annatto oil.
Sauté leeks, shallots and garlic for a few minutes until they soften.
Add fermented bean curd and tomato paste and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Then add chopped tomatoes, add salt and pepper on the tomatoes to season, and stir fry for a few minutes so all the flavors blend together. Turn off heat.
Scoop out 3 heaping tablespoons of this mix and set aside. Set pan aside.
Tofu crumble mix:
In a small pan, on medium heat, add oil and saute leeks until their softened, around a few minutes. Set aside and let cool.
In a medium size bowl, add the remaining ingredients of the tofu crumble mix including the sauteed leeks and gently mix, do not overmix.
Cover and put in the refrigerator for at least an hour or until the 3 hours is up from simmering the broth.
Vermicelli noodles:
Cook the vermicelli noodles as per instructions on the bag. Drain and set aside.
Make sure to rinse the vermicelli noodles with cold water several times to get all of the starch out, then dump into an ice water bath and drain.
Puffy tofu:
Cut tofu blocks into 12 pieces.
Heat frying oil to 380 degrees, then deep fry tofu.
Combining the soup:
Pour the tomato mix in the pan that you set aside into the broth.
Turn the heat up so the broth starts to boil. Take “tofu” mix out of the fridge.
Scoop “tofu” mix with an ice cream scooper and gently immerse into the broth.
Add fried tofu, the remaining half of the quartered tomatoes, one inch smashed green onions and drizzle ¼ cup annatto oil to the top of the pot to give it a nice red color.
Lower the heat and let is simmer for at least another 15 minutes and serve.
When serving, scoop vermicelli noodles into a bowl, pour broth to fill the bowl, and add your desired garnish and squeeze a lime.