Shrimp Vermicelli Tomato Soup (Bún Riêu Tôm)

Crab noodle soup is a very popular dish in Vietnam, which is often cooked with crab as the main ingredient. However, this dish is often changed by the way it is processed in each region in Vietnam, such as in the city of Dalat, is a plateau of Vietnam, where the crab soup now uses dried shrimp instead, which is much easier to prepare . For my taste, I modified this dish also to serve the purpose of what I think about preparing meals these days, which are simple to make and  achieve my requirements, such as being fast, compact, and easy to prepare and still provide a full range of nutrients necessary for the body. Also, easy to find ingredients are part of my cooking because I do not want to drive hours to find enough ingredients for one recipe. I hope this recipe will be the one that everyone will enjoy preparing as a reminder of the beautiful plateau of Vietnam.

Ingredients:
12 to 15 cups chicken stock or pork stock
1/3 cup dried shrimp
4 oz. shrimp, shelled and deveined
6 oz. ground chicken
2 eggs
3 large tomatoes 
1 shallot, chopped
2 pieces dried fungus, soaked and chopped
2 white parts of green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Seasonings:
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Korean chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tbs oil
Garnishes:
Green onions
Vietnamese vegetables plate*
12 oz. or more of dried vermicelli or fresh rice noodles

Directions:
In mini food processor, blend the shallot, garlic, and white onions. Divide in half.
Soak the dried shrimp with 1 cup of water for a few hours. Drain and reserve the soaking water.
In the food processor, grind the dried shrimp into fine paste. Remove and place in a bowl
Add the fresh shrimp in the food processor and grind to paste as well.

Mix the ground chicken and fresh shrimp with the dried shrimp and with half of the onion-garlic mixture, chopped fungus, and eggs. Season with fish sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix well. 

Chop one tomato into pieces and cut the other tomato into wedges.

In medium-sized pan, heat 2 tbs oil. Stir in half of the remaining onion-garlic mixture, Korean chili powder, and paprika. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

 Add chopped tomato. Add some sugar and salt to this process to create the red color for the soup. Cook and stir until tomato releases it color.

Add the stock and the reserved dried shrimps water to the pan. Bring to boil. Use a small ice scream scoop or spoon, whichever is easy for you to make little shrimp balls. Drop them into the boiling stock.

 Skim off any residue that rises on to the surface. Add tomato wedges. Adjust the seasoning again at this point with more salt, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to boil and this soup is ready to serve.

I added kelp to the soup for my own taste. It is optional if you do not have kelp onhands
To serve: 
Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the front of the package.
Place noodles on the bottom of individual serving bowl and divide the shrimp balls and tomato equally into the serving bowl and ladle the broth over the soup bowl.
Serve with a Vietnamese vegetables plate* that contains items such as head lettuce, mints, and sprouts, lemon wedges, and Thai hot chili.