Lay out all the ingredients... and take a nice photo 😂 At this point, you’re probably feeling pretty good ☺️

Finely chop half an onion and slice the green onion tops into thin strips. Soak them in cold water with a little vinegar.

Marinate the crab meat with sugar, seasoning powder, and tomato oil for color. I use tomato oil so my kid can eat it. If you’re cooking for adults, you can use chili oil instead.

Sauté the minced onion and garlic until fragrant, then add the crab meat and cook over medium heat. Gently stir with a spoon so the crab meat cooks evenly. Don’t use chopsticks, as the crab meat is delicate and can fall apart easily.

After sautéing for 6 minutes, transfer the crab meat to a bowl and set aside.

Next, add the chicken bones to the same pot used for the crab meat to make the broth. Keep it at medium heat and skim off any foam.

After simmering for 45 minutes, add half a tomato and half an onion to the pot and continue simmering. Season with more sugar and seasoning powder to taste, then turn off the heat. (About 5 minutes before serving, turn the heat back on and add the pork blood pudding, the remaining half tomato, and the chopped onion.)

While the broth is simmering, knead the tapioca starch to make the noodles—the most challenging part 🤣 Pour the starch onto a clean surface and slowly add boiling water while kneading.

Keep adding water and kneading. The dough might not turn out as smooth as expected: when you pick it up, it’s dry and crumbly, but when you drop it, it gets mushy. It’s tough to form into noodles. (The photo looks neat, but the mess was everywhere!)

So I stopped kneading and tried my own method: I sprinkled dry starch on top 🤣🤣🤣

I didn’t have high hopes, but I used a knife to cut the dough into strips. I call them strips, not noodles, because they were dry and broke easily.

Honestly, I was pretty discouraged at this point. The kitchen floor and my phone were covered in starch, and my kid kept asking me to watch a game show. Out of 10 strips, 5 broke. After a lot of effort, I managed to get enough for two small bowls.

I remembered that at the restaurant, the owner would blanch the noodles in boiling water, discard the water, then add the broth. I put some noodles in a bowl, poured boiling water over them... and they fell apart—a disaster!

But then I had an idea. I decided to bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and drop the remaining noodles in one by one. 1, 2,... then 3 noodles.

I couldn’t believe it—the noodles started to get chewy and partly clear. They were just like real tapioca noodles! Euréka!!! 😍😍😍

I was so happy! Luckily, there was still enough for a bowl for me and my kid. Now, just put the noodles in a bowl, ladle in the broth, and add the pork blood pudding, fish cake, and crab meat. Top with fried shallots, chopped green onion, and green onion tops. Serve hot.

Serve with Nha Trang-style sweet chili fish sauce for dipping the fish cake, lime and chili for extra flavor, and fresh herbs. Looking at the finished dish, I was so happy I almost cried! 😜😜😜