It wasn’t until my trip to central Vietnam a few years ago that I really began to appreciate this complex mi quang dish. There are so many different components + ingredients to this specialty noodle dish including yellow turmeric noodles topped with a variety of fresh leafy herbs, lime juice, pork belly, shrimp, jelly fish, crushed peanuts, and black sesame crackers.
This noodle dish has a complex – is it a noodle soup or is it dry noodles? It’s different than most Vietnamese broth-based noodle soups like pho because the broth is poured only enough to slightly cover the noodles {in a way, the broth is more like a sauce}.
Here’s a recipe to making mi quang noodles:
STEP ONE // MAKE THE BROTH
Ingredients:
- 10 cups of water
- 2.5 lbs spare ribs {cut into riblets}
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon {TB} minced shallots
- .5 TB olive oil
- pinch of salt
Wash the pork riblets thoroughly. Heat a soup pot on medium-high heat and add the olive oil, garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute. Then add the spare ribs. After it starts browning, remove the pot away from the heat and add the 10 cups of water. Put the pot back on the burner and let it simmer for 1 hour on low heat.
STEP TWO // PREPARE + SAUTE THE PORK + SHRIMP
Ingredients:
- 1 lb shrimp {peel shell + devein}
- 1 lb pork belly {cut into thin slices}
- 3 TB annato seed oil*
- 2.5 TB fish sauce
- 1.5 TB paprika
- 3 TB sugar
- 2 TB minced shallots
- 1.5 TB minced garlic
- salt to taste
- pepper/peppercorn to taste
* To make annato seed oil, heat a small saucepan and add 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 tablespoon of annato seed over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes until the oil turns into a deep red, orange color. Strain and discard the seed.
Pour the annato oil into a large frying pan and saute the shallots and garlic. Then add the pork belly and let it cook 3/4 way before adding the shrimp. Then add the rest of the ingredients: fish sauce, sugar, paprika, and add salt and pepper to taste {I like a lot of pepper}. Saute until the shrimp and pork are fully cooked.
STEP THREE // COMBINE THE BROTH + SAUCE FROM THE SAUTEED MEAT
This is not the traditional way of making the broth but I wanted my broth to be more flavorful than the traditional “nuoc leo” broth. So, I strained the sauteed meat and took the sauce from the sauteed meat and added it to the simmering broth. Stir the broth + sauce and taste it. If the broth is not flavorful enough, add a little bit more of fish sauce, salt, and/or sugar. Let the broth simmer for another 30 minutes on low heat.
STEP FOUR // COOK THE TURMERIC NOODLES
- 1 package of mi quang noodles
- 1 tsp olive oil
or make your own turmeric noodles
- 1 package of white pho wide noodles
- turmeric powder
- 1 tsp olive oil
You can either make your own turmeric noodles which essentially is pho noodles with turmeric powder. Just follow the directions on the packaging and then add turmeric {turmeric adds the yellow color but it doesn’t really have any flavor} and sprinkle some olive oil to keep the noodles from drying and the strands from sticking together.
Or you can go the easier route and buy packaged mi quang noodles. Just a word of caution, the noodles cook very fast, about 3-5 minutes so make sure you keep an eye on it. You don’t want your noodles too soft. Remember to sprinkle a bit of oil to keep the noodle strand from sticking together.
STEP FIVE // PREP THE TOPPINGS
Ingredients:
- variety of fresh mints found at Asian supermarkets
- bean sprouts
- lettuce
- chives
- banana blossom {peeled, remove the white flower between each leaf, then stack the purple layers and cut into thin strips. put the cut strips into a bowl of water with lime juice to prevent it from browning}
- cilantro {for garnishing}
- green onions {chopped}
- lime wedges
- roasted, crushed peanuts
- black sesame crackers {broken into big pieces}
- Vietnamese pork sausage {“cha”}
- red chili sauce
- jelly fish {found in the refrigerated area of the Asian supermarkets}
The Vietnamese pork sausages + jelly fish are already cooked so they don’t need to be sauteed with the meat.
I add a lot of veges to my bowl {it covers about 1/3 of the bowl}!
STEP FIVE // ASSEMBLE THE BOWL + EAT !
Now it’s time to layer your bowl! Start by adding some noodles to your bowl, pour the broth over the noodles {about 1/4 of the bowl}, and add some meat, a lot of veges, banana blossoms, and broken pieces of the rice crackers. Then sprinkle peanuts, cilantro, green onions and finish it off with lime juice. Add some chili sauce if you like your food spicy.
Boy, was that a lot of steps but it’s darn good + so worth it. This is a great special noodle dish to make over the weekend for your family + friends!
{on a side note: when it comes to Vietnamese cooking, my mom never writes down her recipes and there is never precise measurement. She just taste as she preps + cooks and I do the same when it comes to Vietnamese cooking. Some like it more salty, others like it sweeter. So during this process, when I was sauteing the meat, I’d taste the pork and if it was too salty, I’d add a little bit more sugar. If it was too sweet, I added a bit more of the fish sauce. Do the same with the broth. Remember to always taste your food before you serve it! Happy cooking!}
{Photos by Tiffany Nguyen}
,Tiff
