Cao Lau - Vietnamese Noodle Bowl (2024)

For the Broth:

• 1/2 kg pork bones - for soup
• 1 onion - cut in halves
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 annise stars - optional
• 2 l water
• 1 lemongrass stalk - optional

For the Meat:

• 1/2 kg pork tenderloin - cut in a few chunks
• 2 shallots - chopped
• 1 tsp chili paste - optional
• 1 lemongrass stalk - chopped
• 1 tsp fish souce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp five-spice-powder* - (blend of cinnamon, cloves, anise, pepper and ginger)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the Noodles:

• 400 g Udon Noodles - or Japanese Soba noodles or any other rice noodles
• 1 l water
• 1 cup bean sprouts

For Wonton croutons:

• few wonton wrappers - cut into four
• 1 cup vegetable oil - for frying

For Serving:

• few lettuce and/or chard leaves
• few mint leaves
• few basil leaves
• some peanuts - optional - for topping
• some onion - optional - for topping

To prepare the Broth:

• After rinsing well the bones, place them in a deep pot with water, salt, annise stars and lemongrass (both optional) and onion cut in half.

  

• Cook on medium heat for approximately one hour.

• While the broth is cooking, prepare the meat marinade

To Prepare the meat marinade:

• In a bowl combine chopped shallots, lemongrass, chili paste, fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, 5-spice powder, salt, sugar and chopped garlic

  

• Add the meat chunks and mix it with your hands pouring the marinade over and mixing it for few minutes

• Then, cover it and leave in fridge for minimum one hour (the longer the better)

• After one hour (ideally 5 hours or overnight) remove the meat from the marinate

  

• Heat 1tbsp of oil in a large saucepan and cook the meat for some 5-7 minutes

• Pour the marinade mixture over the meat, and add earlier prepared broth. Cover and cook (low to medium fire) for some 15 -20 minutes all together occasionally stirring

  

• Meanwhile, prepare the noodles

To prepare the Noodles:

• in a separate pot, cook the noodles together with bean sprouts in boiled water for 1-2 minutes approximately

  

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• Remove the noodles and sprouts, rinse them under cold water and set aside

To prepare Wonton Croutons (optional):

• *You can buy a pack of Wonton pastry in any Chinese Grocery Store

  

• Cut each wrapper in 4 pieces

  

• In a deep saucepan heat 1 cup of vegetable oil and fry the wonton wrappers only for few seconds from each side or until they look golden and crispy.

  

• Transfer them on a kitchen paper to drain the oil and season with some salt as per taste.

  

Serving:

• Prepare the serving bowls placing some lettuce and/or chard, basil and mint leaves

  

• Once the meat is cooked, cut it in thin slices and place them into the serving bowl

• Add noodles and sprouts

• Pour few scopes of the broth over and top it with few wonton croutons

  

• You can add some extra chilies on top if you want it more spicy

• You can add some peanuts and/or chopped onion on top

As for the ingredients - in case you cannot find some of them in supermarkets, you can look for it in some Chinese grocery store - normally they will have all of it.

Some ingredients can also be omitted or replaced with something similar.

For more spicy taste you can add some chopped chilies as topping