Banh Canh is a Vietnamese noodle dish that translates to ‘cake soup.’ This warm bowl of Banh Canh is especially delicious during cold weather. The word banh refers to noodles or cake that are made from flour, while canh means soup. The thick noodles are usually made from rice flour or tapioca flour. As the texture resembles udon, thus udon can be used as a substitute for this dish.
Banh Canh is a versatile noodle soup dish as you can add any kind of broth or toppings. The most popular types of Banh Canh is Banh Canh Cua (crab) and Banh Canh Gio Heo (pork hock). The toppings can be fish cakes, Vietnamese ham, mushroom, shrimp balls and many others.
The banh canh noodles are widely available in dried form at most supermarkets. The broth is usually made from a pork stock that required simmering for up to 2 hours. You may opt to substitute it with chicken stock if you are short on time.
Ingredients (6 servings):
- 5 kg of pork bones
- 3 L of water
- 1 large yellow onion (halved)
- 1 tbsp of salt
- 1 tbsp of pork stock powder
- 1 tbsp of white sugar
- 1 tsp of fish sauce
- 900 g of Banh Canh noodles
Toppings
- 1 stick fried fish cake (thinly sliced)
- 2 scallions ( thinly sliced)
- Ground black pepper
Directions:
- Make sure to clean the pork bones thoroughly. Boil the pork bones for 10 minutes. Then drain the water and rinse the pork bones under cold running water. This will help to clean the bones and keep the stock clear.
- In a large pot, bring 3 litres of water to boil. Add the cleaned pork bones and onion. Let it simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Then, discard the onions and pork bones. You can leave the bones in the soup if they still have meat on them.
- Add pork stock powder, sugar, salt and fish sauce to the stock. Adjust the seasonings according to taste.
- In the meantime, cook the Banh Canh noodles in a pot of boiling water. Cook them until tender, drain and put it aside.
- To assemble the dish, put some noodles in a bowl. Pour a hot broth over the noodles and garnish with fried fish cakes and scallions. Sprinkle some ground black pepper for spiciness and enjoy!
Now that your noodle dish is ready, order some side dishes or dessert from foodpanda!