What is the typical color of the sunny and windy Central Highlands? In the famous song "Tinh ca Tay Nguyen" by the late musician Hoang Van, we have seen the appearance of "Truong Nguyen xanh, xanh ho nuoc, Truong Son xa xanh, ngan ngan ngan cay xanh".
But that green is still not the typical color because in the chorus, Hoang Van has painted her Central Highlands with the bright red color of basalt, the land that has been made from volcanic ash that had issued from the volcanoes millions of years ago and now turned into a blood vessel for fertile land.
That red color is on red dirt roads, wandering around the plateau. That red color has created majestic Central Highlands mountains and forests, nurturing vast plantations of coffee, pepper, cashew nuts, etc. And then that red color even entered the bowl of noodles, which was both strange and familiar but only available here.
Therefore, when you set foot in Buon Ma Thuot without eating red noodles, it is considered incomplete, even if this is just a normal street food. It is also strange that on a stretch of the Central Highlands that has passed, every region has a typical rustic vermicelli dish, not forest paint dishes such as bear hands, spring rolls...
For example, the "dirty" vermicelli soup with crab is a terrible smell, but it is a familiar dish in the mountainous town of Pleiku. Or a bowl of noodle soup or a bowl of noodle soup with shrimp paste mixed with pureed lean meat makes the noodles as smooth, rich, and rich as a premium pate. And now this bowl of red noodles is very delicious.
According to local people, this red noodle dish is quite old, appearing in Buon Ma Thuot during the French colonial period and is classified as a local culinary dish. The creativity of chefs in the Upper Plateau has created a delicious soup to meet the tastes of diners down to the mountains.
When hearing the name of red noodle soup, it is inevitable that there is a special connection to the famous red noodle soup of Hai Phong people. However, these two dishes are completely different even though they have the same meaning of "red" color and are both related to the same common ingredient: crab cooked in a stewed fish sauce.
Because red cake noodles have turned red-brown from the time they are processed, while red noodles have turned red due to the process of cooking the noodles, causing the noodles to turn white and indigo noodles with the color of the pollen or red, the dieu dieu from the broth. Therefore, it can be considered that these two fiber-based foods are "difficult to eat together".
From the above description, we can immediately see the most basic difference between these two red dishes. Red rice paper is dried, and when the ceiling is hot and soft, it retains that color. The red noodles must be cooked in broth until soft and turn from white to red.
In this form, red noodles are prepared similar to the Central region's banh canh but red noodles are completely different from red rice paper or other brothed noodles. And because they have to go through the cooking process in the broth, red noodles are also larger than the noodles of other noodles, similar in size to Mac Trang noodles in Co Loa region, because if they are like that, they will not break when cooked or stir-fried.
The structure of a bowl of red noodles is very eye-catching. In the bowl of water made from red Hien flower, leave a few pieces of areca tomatoes and large buns as big as a stick and paint a beautiful red color even though there is still a little white. They will form the foundation for a large crab crab about the size of an adult's hand, which is also bright red.
This crab crab is carefully processed. Grind the crab until smooth, filter the water to get the juice, then cook until well-done to remove. That portion of the fried pork belly is mixed with crab, shrimp, pureed pork, with chopped purple onions, finely ground pepper to form a smooth and sticky mixture.
Divide this mixture into large pieces or roll into balls and cook in broth. These crab sticky rice pieces are cooked in a pot, and when they are made, they are taken out and put into a bowl. Due to the addition of meat and shrimp, the ripe rice pieces do not break when cooked for as long as the crab ripe, but the longer the rice is cooked, the ripe rice pieces are more flavorful, making the broth more fragrant and sweet.
In addition to the branch, the chicken egg bust is boiled in broth, so it is also red. A pinch of green short-cut green green onions to balance the color with the purple color of shrimp paste and the dark red color of chili. Just like that, it is not complicated with many "tops" but is attractive enough to make diners feel the difference.
As usual, when I eat a strange bun, I always taste the first piece of broth to see what it tastes. The broth of red noodle soup has a very sweet and fatty taste due to simmering with pork bones, cooked beef bones and crab water. The broth is the shape, connecting the flavor of the red bowl of noodle soup.
After "mentoring" the broth, immediately add the vermicelli to eat. The noodles are very crispy, soft but not broken. To achieve these two criteria, it is necessary to have a standard calculation level for the cook. When to put the vermicelli in a pot of broth, cook for how long until the vermicelli fiber turns red, blooms big but must be crispy and soft.
According to Ms. Thu, owner of a red noodle shop in Buon Ma Thuot City, the time to cook the noodles is about 10 minutes, if left longer, it will lose its crispiness. "If you eat red noodles with soft noodles, no longer crispy and fishy in your mouth, it would be considered a broken bowl of noodles," Ms. Thu explained while passing through the bowl with the noodles.
The crunchyness combined with the richness of the sticky rice pieces makes the red vermicelli soup increase the deliciousness to several parts. Therefore, when eating red noodles, diners' ears are also delighted because they hear the sound of the dish, so they don't have to compare it with the eyes, nose, and mouth to swallow.
Of course, red vermicelli is also eaten with raw vegetables such as chopped sweet cabbage, spicy cabbage sprouts, and at this time, there are also water spinach. These are basic vegetables to eat with red vermicelli, in addition to a little bean sprouts and herbs. Perhaps due to habit, these vegetables are often shredded to ensure safety, however, if you are confident in the "production", you can eat the vegetables completely raw because it brings fresh color.
Before eating, add a spoonful of shrimp paste, a spoonful of fatty chilli, a little fried onion, fresh chili, and pureed fresh lemon to enhance the flavor of the bowl of red vermicelli soup. Eating a piece of red noodle like that on the first day of the year, I don't know if it's lucky or not, but if we say it, it's really delicious.
