Once a while, I really like talking about old school stuff; you know, those things that were old, belonged to the past, but as soon as we talk about them our eyes couldn't be more sparkled. And this post is one of those old things. The "Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup" was among the original recipes uploaded on this blog back in 2015 when everything was just a beginning. You can see the watermark on these photos was labeled in 2015. I'm not sure how far I have been going with this blog, but this soup recipe is as old as the elderly I just met 2 hours ago in the convenient store.
Why did I re-post it? Well, if you haven't heard I lost most of my old posts due to a stupid thing I did in the past. You can read more about that stupid story HERE, Also, do yourself a favor by not repeating the thing that I did then you will never ever ran into a trouble like me. Up to this point, I'm still struggling to find my old posts with their original contents and food photos.
Actually, I have all of the photos (found them in my old phone's memory card, thanks God). However, finding what I wrote for each post back in the day is a pain in glute. I did successfully recovered the full content for this recipe, as I read what I wrote, I was laughing so hard a long the way. What were I thinking? I wrote so badly back then and again, I'm not sure how good my writing skills are right now, but back then, God forbid.
The original one was published on April 11, 2015, five freaking years ago. Wow, time fly and fly super fast. Oh how much I miss those days when I lived cozily in a 1 bed room apartment in Houston, TX. One of the best time of my life, I must say.
I can go on and on how wonderful those days were. But I did mention that this blog is about recipes and stories not recipes and prequel & sequel. And by stories I meant short content (not the entire diary) of my daily life; so when I look back, I can still imagine what the hell I did on that day of one specific post.
Ok back to the recipe, shall we? I call this classic recipe of us, Vietnamese, because every single one of us has eaten this particular soup at least 10 times in our life. Yup, at least 10 times, that how sure I am. This soup is a must entree in every family back in the days, current days, and as well as future days. Not none of us has grown up without this soup.
Don't believe me? Wrap one of your Viet friends or neighbors or even strangers just passing by you on the street, show them this article, and prove me wrong. Just do it and let me know if I were wrong (no pun intended).
This soup required tons load of Asian veggies which can be found in any Asian market. Chances are if you are not familiar with the names of these yet, you might have a hard time looking for them. Don't worry I'll list them here for you, then you can cut & paste in Google search and voila, you know what I am talking about.
Here are the veggie ingredients that you need:
- Tomatoes
- Okras
- Taro stems (Bạc hà/dọc mùng)
- Beansprout
- Rice paddy herb (ngổ om)
- Pineapples
It's time for the Classic recipe. Lets roll guys!
Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup (Canh Chua Tom)
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp tamarind soup base
- ½ lb catfish bones
- 1 lb shrimp peeled, deveined
- 2 oz fish sauce
- 2 oz sugar
- ½ lb okra
- 5 oz beansprout
- ½ lb tomato quartered
- ½ pineapples cut into bite size cubes
- 1 oz rice paddy herb finely chopped, for garnish
- 2 Thai chilies whole or cut in half
Fried garlic
- ½ c veggie oil
- ¼ c garlic finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot, combine 2 qt of water with catfish bones, bring to boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Discard the bones, strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieves. Return the soup to cooking pot, add tamarind soup base and Thai chilies. Bring to boil, then add fish sauce and sugar, stir occasionally. Adjust the taste accordingly using extra salt and sugar (if needed).
- Let the soup pot simmer on medium heat, add the shrimp, pineapples, tomatoes, and cook for another 2 minutes or until the shrimps just turn pink.
- Set up another small pot filled with water, bring to boil. When you're ready to eat, cook the veggies separately in this pot. Do not put the veggies directly in the soup pot because they might lose their freshness, original color, and nutrition.
- For fried garlic: in a small saucepan, heat the oil together with garlic over medium heat. Stir frequently to prevent garlic from burning for about 5-8 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the oil for later use. Let the garlic cool down then store in a air tight container.
- When you're ready to eat: in a big soup bowl, put all cooked veggies in first, then add the shrimp, tomatoes, and pineapples together with hot & sour soup to the bowl. Topped with fried garlic and rice paddy herb. Enjoy!
I have used your recipe before and it was awesome just like the vietnamese restaurant experience! So thank you. I'm making it again today as I found all the veggies together at my local Asian market in Sacramento,Ca.
Hi Velma,
Thank you so much for trying out the recipe and making it again. I'm so thrilled that it worked out perfectly for you. And yeah, we can't never get enough of this soup in our house. We have to at least eat it once a month.
Substitutes for rice paddy herb and fish bones, since most are not too easily available? Thanks!
Hi Ella,
The best substitution for rice paddy herb is culantro (not cilantro). If it's also too hard to find, dill is another popular option you can go for. Just keep in mind dill goes better with fish than shrimp so you might want to switch out the shrimp. However, it's totally fine to consume the soup without either of the herbs above :).
As for fish bones, you can substitute them with real fish nugget or fish steak (recommend fish with a little fat like cat fish or salmon). Just cook the fish first, then adding the rest as written in the recipe.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it turns out or you still need any info :).
Thanks again.
to be honest I feel like canh chua without rice paddy herb wouldn't be canh chua. It has a distinct smell and taste. The aroma is nice
I feel the same way too. But rice paddy herb is not always available in some parts of the world so we just have to find the best substitution for it then 🙂