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hot & sour shrimp soup

Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup (Canh Chua Tom)

The best hot & sour shrimp soup recipe you will ever need in your recipe box. Learn to make this classic Vietnamese soup in few easy steps.
5 from 8 votes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 2 people
Author: Tu

Ingredients 

Soup base

  • ½ lb catfish bones
  • 4 tbsp tamarind soup base
  • 2 oz fish sauce
  • 2 oz sugar granulated white sugar or palm sugar

Soup ingredients

  • 1 lb shrimp or prawn peeled, deveined
  • 2 stems elephant ear plant peeled, cut into diagonal pieces
  • ½ lb okra keep whole or halved
  • 5 oz beansprout
  • ½ lb tomato quartered
  • ½ pineapples cut into bite size cubes
  • white cabbage optional, cut into bite size

Garnish

  • 1 oz rice paddy herb finely chopped, for garnish
  • 2 Thai chilies whole or cut in half
  • 1 tbsp fried garlic

To taste

  • salt & sugar as needed

Instructions

Make soup base

  • In a large pot, combine 2 qt of water with catfish bones, bring to boil then simmer for 30 minutes.
    ½ lb catfish bones
  • Discard the bones, strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieves. Pour about 1 cup of the soup to a small mixing bowl, then add tamarind soup base in. Stir to dissolve it completely, about 2-3 minutes.
    4 tbsp tamarind soup base
  • Return the rest of the strained soup & tamarind mixture to the cooking pot. Bring to boil. Then lower the heat and add fish sauce and sugar, stir until sugar completely dissolved. Adjust the taste accordingly by using salt and sugar.
    2 oz fish sauce, 2 oz sugar, salt & sugar
  • At this point the soup base can be kept under refrigeration for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Add ingredients

  • Let the soup pot simmer on medium high heat, add the shrimp, pineapples, tomatoes, and cook for 2 minutes or until the shrimps just turn pink.
    1 lb shrimp or prawn, ½ lb tomato, ½ pineapples

Blanch vegetables

  • Set up another small pot filled with water bring to boil on the stove and an ice bath.
  • Add vegetables and cook for 2 minutes max. Then quickly remove them using slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath to prevent carry over cooking.
    2 stems elephant ear plant, ½ lb okra, 5 oz beansprout, white cabbage
  • After 2 minutes, take the vegetables out, set aside at room temperature for later use.

Assemble & serve

  • When you're ready to eat, bring the pot back to boiling point, then add blanched vegetables into the soup. Quickly adjust the taste (if necessary). You can also add the Thai red chilies at this point. Turn off the heat immediately. The whole process should not exceed 1 minute.
    2 Thai chilies
  • Ladle the soup into a large soup bowl, garnish with rice paddy herb and fried garlic. Serve immediately.
    1 oz rice paddy herb, 1 tbsp fried garlic

Notes

How to season hot & sour shrimp soup?
The main taste of this soup should lean toward the sourness followed by the sweetness. Fish sauce & salt are here to help balance the taste not to over power the other two.
So in order to make the best soup, you should never use more than the recommended amount of fish sauce. If you need to adjust the saltiness, always use extra plain salt. Because too much fish sauce can compromise the main tamarind taste.
Remember a little seasoning goes a long way, adjust with a few pinch salt or sugar at a time. Wait for them to dissolve completely, taste, then add more if necessary.
How long can I keep the soup?
It is best to make the soup broth separately so you can keep it for 2-3 days under refrigeration or 2 weeks in the freezer.
If you add protein and vegetables inside the soup then it is best to serve within 1 day.