I was craving noodles so when I was talking to my mom at lunch, she told me she has Vietnamese fish cake (cha ca Hoang Yen brand) patties, I thought we should have "bun cha ca" (fish cake noodles soup) for dinner !!! Easy and light !
I made a chicken broth (from left over 1/2 roasted chicken I had in my fridge) and seared tomatoes (oil, minced scallion, and garlic cooked on high, add tomatoes, and cook until an orange liquid is release, pour into broth and cook for 10 min.). I noticed we always cook fish with tomatoes. It might be a northern Vietnamese thing, or just how my mom likes it. It goes well together in soup.
While the broth is stewing, I cook thick vermicelli (bun giang tay) noodles, let it cool and divide into bowl. Put the fish cakes into the broth to cook it, when done, take out and sliced. I pan fried some eggs and thinly sliced them. Topped the bowl of noodles with the sliced fish cakes, eggs and steamed rau muong (ong choy). Ladle the rich tomatoes broth over then sprinkle generously with chopped dills and green onions ! I also topped my bowl with some bean sprouts and cilantro. It was very tasty ! Our kids like it too, without all the greens, as expected ! Took me about 45 min. from kitchen to table (shorter if you have ready-made chicken broth).
