Vietnamese CookbookBếp Việt · The Vietnamese Kitchen

Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang

Hủ tiếu Nam Vang

The Phnom Penh–style noodle soup of the Mekong world — clear pork-and-dried- seafood broth, chewy noodles, shrimp, quail eggs, and a slick of fried garlic oil.

By Vietnamese Cookbook Kitchen · July 3, 2026

The Mekong DeltaThe Lê Dynasty era, 1428–1789

Hủ Tiếu Nam VangPhở
Prep
40 min
Cook
180 min
Serves
6
Level
Intermediate

Nam Vang is the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh, and the name is the lineage: this is the soup Teochew Chinese cooks made famous in Cambodia's capital, where it is called kuy teav and eaten for breakfast to this day. Chinese and Vietnamese families moving between Phnom Penh, the Mekong Delta, and Saigon — in numbers especially through the mid-twentieth century — carried it across the border, where it kept its Khmer-Chinese bones and picked up Vietnamese manners: fish sauce in the broth, a raft of fresh herbs, lime on the side. The delta made it family; Mỹ Tho and Sa Đéc now defend hometown versions with real feeling.

Everything rests on a broth that is clear, light, and sweet in a way sugar alone cannot fake — the dried shrimp and dried squid do that work, an inheritance from the Teochew stock pot. The discipline is simple: blanch the bones, never boil the broth, and skim like you mean it. After that, hủ tiếu is an assembly game, a dozen small toppings landing on chewy noodles in the time the broth takes to travel from ladle to bowl. It is breakfast logic — generous, fast, and completely awake.

The broth's quiet sweetness comes from dried shrimp and dried squid, not from a heavy hand with rock sugar. Skip the dried seafood and you've made a decent pork soup that isn't hủ tiếu.

Lời đầu bếp · A word from the kitchen

Ingredientsnguyên liệu

Serves 6

Broth

  • 1.5 kgpork bones — leg or neck bones, rinsed well
  • 30 gdried shrimp — rinsed — this and the squid are the signature of the broth
  • 1dried squid — a palm-sized piece, lightly toasted over a flame if you can
  • 1daikon radish — about 300 g, in thick rounds
  • 1yellow onion — peeled and left whole
  • 20 grock sugar — or 4 tsp sugar — supporting the dried seafood, not replacing it
  • 45 mlfish sauce — 3 tbsp, plus salt to adjust
  • 4 Lwater

Toppings and noodles

  • 600 ghủ tiếu noodles — the chewy tapioca-blend kind (hủ tiếu dai) is classic; soft rice noodles are legitimate too
  • 250 gground pork
  • 300 gpork loin — in one piece, to poach in the broth and slice thin
  • 18quail eggs — boiled and peeled; three per bowl
  • 300 gshrimp — peeled, tails on
  • 6garlic cloves — minced, for frying in 60 ml oil — the fried garlic and its oil finish every bowl
  • 1 bunchgarlic chives — in 3 cm lengths, with bean sprouts, lettuce, lime, and sliced chili for the table

Methodcách làm

  1. Step 1: Blanch the bones

    Cover the bones with cold water, bring to a hard boil for three minutes, then drain, rinse the bones, and scrub the pot. Ten minutes of fuss now is the difference between a clear broth and a grey one.

  2. Step 2: Build the broth

    Return the bones to the pot with 4 liters of fresh water, the dried shrimp, dried squid, daikon, onion, and rock sugar. Simmer gently, uncovered and never boiling, for two and a half to three hours, skimming early and often. Slip in the pork loin for the final 25 minutes, then pull it to rest.

  3. Step 3: Make the garlic oil

    While the broth works, fry the minced garlic in the oil over medium-low heat until it is pale gold, then pour everything into a heatproof bowl immediately — it keeps darkening off the heat. This is the perfume the whole bowl rides on.

  4. Step 4: Season and hold

    Strain the broth, discard the solids, and season with fish sauce and salt until it tastes clean, faintly sweet, and quietly of the sea. It should be clear enough to read the bottom of the ladle.

  5. Step 5: Cook the toppings

    In a saucepan of the broth, poach the shrimp two minutes and lift them out, then swirl in the ground pork, broken up fine, until it just turns. Slice the rested loin thin. Everything waits, ready, because assembly is fast and the noodles won't.

  6. Step 6: Assemble hot and fast

    Blanch the noodles in boiling water until just chewy — seconds for fresh, a few minutes for dried — and divide among warm bowls. Top with loin, ground pork, shrimp, and quail eggs, ladle broth down the side, and finish with garlic oil, chives, and pepper. Sprouts, lettuce, lime, and chili ride alongside.

Đồ nghề · The tools

Equipment

All kitchen tools →

  • Tall stockpot (12 qt+)

    Nồi hầm

    Phở is a marathon of bones and water, and a wide pot evaporates your broth away. Go tall and narrow — the depth keeps a lazy simmer lazy for six hours.

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  • Fine-mesh skimmer

    Vợt vớt bọt

    Clear phở broth is not a trick, it is patience with a skimmer — take the scum off early and often and the pot rewards you with glass.

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  • Noodle blanching basket

    Vợt trụng bún

    One long-handled basket, one pot of boiling water, one bowl at a time — noodles dunked, shaken dry, and dropped into the bowl still steaming. The street-stall rhythm at home.

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  • Fine sieve / muslin

    Rây lọc

    For straining broth crystal-clear, squeezing coconut milk, and working tamarind pulp through into pure sour. Line it with muslin when the recipe says “clear” and means it.

    Shop on Amazon →

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Questions from the kitchen

What is the dry version I see on menus?

Hủ tiếu khô — the same bowl, deconstructed. The noodles are tossed with garlic oil and a spoonful of sweetened soy sauce, the toppings go on top, and the broth arrives on the side in its own bowl. Many delta and Saigon regulars consider it the superior format; the noodles stay chewier and the broth stays hot.

Is hủ tiếu Vietnamese or Cambodian?

Both, honestly, with a Chinese spine. It descends from kuy teav, the pork-noodle soup Teochew Chinese cooks made famous in Phnom Penh, and Vietnamese cooks adopted and renamed it for the city. The Mekong Delta then grew its own branches — hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho and Sa Đéc are hometown variants, not copies.

I can't find dried squid. Is it fatal?

Not fatal, but it leaves a hole. Double the dried shrimp to compensate, and add them early so they give everything up to the broth. Asian groceries usually stock dried squid near the dried shrimp and anchovies — it keeps for a year, so buy two.

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