DEAR SOS: Can you help me find...

DEAR SOS: Can you help me find a recipe for a spicy Vietnamese soup called bun bo Hue ?

ADRIANNA LENAIN

Whittier

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DEAR ADRIANNA: Mai Pham, chef/owner of Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafe in Sacramento and author of the new cookbook “Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table (HarperCollins, $27.50), wrote a story for the Food Section in 1998 about the cooking of Hue, the food capital of Vietnam. The following recipe comes from that story.

Beef Vermicelli Soup (Bun Bo Hue)

Active Work Time: 45 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 2 1/2 hours

In this recipe, it’s extremely important to float the prepared aromatics in the soup just before serving to give the broth its fragrance. Make sure the paprika and cayenne, which add color and flavor, don’t get scorched. Rice vermicelli, rau ram and Thai bird chiles are available at Asian markets.

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4 pounds pork or beef bones

2 pounds pork leg or pork sirloin (off top of leg)

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon shrimp paste

2 lemon grass stalks, cut into 3-inch pieces and bruised with back of knife

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon minced shallot

2 tablespoons minced lemon grass

2 tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

14 ounces dried rice vermicelli, about 1/8 inch thick

1 pound sirloin steak, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced paper thin

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1 cup rau ram (Vietnamese coriander leaves)

6 lime wedges, for serving

5 Thai bird chiles, chopped, for serving

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Bring the bones and pork to boil in a large pot with water to cover. Drain and rinse well. Fill the pot with 16 cups of water and add the bones and pork. Bring to a boil, skimming the surface as needed. Add the fish sauce, salt, sugar, shrimp paste and lemon grass stalks. Reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is tender, about 11/2 hours.

Remove the pork and set aside to cool. Strain the broth into another saucepan and bring to simmer. Wrap the cooled meat with plastic wrap until ready to slice. Discard the bones. Add more water if needed to bring to 10 cups of liquid.

Heat the oil in skillet over medium heat and add the shallot and minced lemon grass. Stir until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the paprika and cayenne and remove from the heat immediately. Stir the mixture into the broth.

Meanwhile, soak the vermicelli in water to cover 30 minutes to plump the noodles. Drain. Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water until soft but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse.

Slice the cooked pork. Return the broth to a boil.

Place about 11/2 cups of noodles in each of 8 soup bowls. Place a few slices of beef in a slotted spoon and warm in the boiling broth. Arrange the sliced beef and pork on the noodles in each bowl and ladle broth on top.

Garnish with red onion slices, cilantro, green onions and rau ram. Serve lime wedges and chopped chiles on the side.

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8 servings. Each serving: 439 calories; 672 mg sodium; 125 mg cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 39 grams protein; 1.41 grams fiber.

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Send requests to Culinary SOS, Food Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 or e-mail to: cindy.dorn@latimes.com. Please include your last name and city of residence for publication. Include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants.