Mee krob (crispy rice vermicelli)

Ingredients

• 100 g of dry rice vermicelli
• finely chopped yellow tofu, sun-dried for half a day
• Half a bottle of vegetable oil
• 2 shallots
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 cane eggs
• 2 tablespoons of palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• the juice from 2 tamarind pods
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of fermented soy sauce (tao jiao)
• Long, thinly sliced red chili pepper
• 1 bitter orange (seville orange)

Finely chop the shallots and garlic, then sauté them in the oil until they are fragrant, and remove them.

Fry the eggs and pour them, one at a time, through a skimmer into the hot oil to create golden, crispy strands; then drain them.

Deep-fry the dried tofu.

Fry the vermicelli in small batches in medium-hot oil until they puff up, then drain and mix with the fried garlic and shallots.

In the first half of the oil, melt the palm sugar, then add the nuoc-mâm, sugar, tamarind juice, and fermented soy sauce, and simmer until it thickens into a syrup without burning. Add the orange juice and zest.

Pour the syrup over the vermicelli and tofu, and gently mix.

Sprinkle with egg noodles and finely chopped chili peppers. Can be stored in a sealed bag for 2-3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.