Noodles with Rotten Crab Pleiku

This dish is also known as crab vermicelli or rotten vermicelli, this dish is considered a typical dish in the mountain town of Pleiku - Gia Lai. People here name this dish so that it won't be confused with crab noodle soup or other crab-based dishes.

As the name suggests, this special dish consists of 2 main ingredients: vermicelli and crab. However, unlike other vermicelli or crab dishes, this dish makes diners wary because it has an unpleasant smell, rising from the thick black broth.

To make this dish, local people often catch crabs in Dong Phu Tho (ie Dong Xanh, An Phu commune, Pleiku city) to have a delicious and fragrant taste. Fresh copper crabs are washed, removed the shell, the body is pounded or pureed, then filtered to get the water. Fresh crab juice, fermented for about a day and night until it turns black and has a strong smell, then it is processed. Crab water incubation must ensure enough and right time for the aroma to meet the standards. Because crab juice is too strong or too little smell, it will not be delicious when cooking vermicelli.

The fermented crab juice continues to be simmered on the fire and then thinly sliced fresh bamboo shoots are added. The longer it cooks, the more sweet the bamboo shoots release, making the broth richer. People also add cooked duck eggs to the pot of water, when customers order, they will take it out and add it to a bowl of vermicelli.

Besides the characteristic of the broth, this dish also has very rich ingredients such as fresh bamboo shoots to create sweetness, crispy fried pork skin, and flexible vermicelli. In particular, this noodle dish will be eaten very spicy to drown out the fishy taste of the crab, and at the same time increase the warmth to create a harmony of taste.

This dish is usually served with raw vegetables, but diners can order more shrimp puffs, sour rolls, spring rolls ... and then fill the crab with the filling inside. Because the broth of this vermicelli dish is not too much, just under the vermicelli, so for the dish to have a fatty and delicious taste, you need to mix it well so that the ingredients are absorbed into the fish sauce and blended together.

In Pleiku, diners can visit rotten crab noodle shops in the small market area of Phung Hung Street, Pleiku night market, shops on Le Duan and Phan Dinh Phung streets or at Bien Ho Crossroads market. Each serving of crab vermicelli costs about 10,000 - 15,000 VND, a popular dish that makes many guests hesitant at first, but it is a typical dish of the mountain town of Pleiku, those who have tasted it once will remember the unique taste forever. Not all dishes are available.