Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup (Canh Chua)

What is Canh Chua?

Canh chua is a Vietnamese sweet and sour soup that originated from the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. It is a tamarind based broth which includes ingredients such as tomatoes, pineapple, okra, elephant ear stem, rice paddy herb and catfish.

Ingredients

5-6 Catfish steaks

1 litre of chicken stock

2 litres of water

3 tbsp of tamarind pulp + 300ml water (or 2.5 tbsp Knorrs tamarind soup base)

4 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp tom yum paste (optional)

1/3 pineapple, sliced

2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

200g okra, top cut off, sliced diagonally

1 elephant ear stem, peeled and sliced diagonally

1 bunch rice paddy herbs (Ngò Ôm), chopped (do not skip)

Bean sprouts

Coriander and chilli to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Marinate catfish with a tablespoon of fish sauce, salt and pepper for 30 mins

2. In a small pot, add tamarind pulp to water and heat up until it becomes a mixture. Strain mixture through a colander. Pressing as much pulp through and scraping the pulp outside the colander into bowl.

3. In a large soup pot, add chicken stock, water and tamarind mixture. Bring to a boil. Then lower heat to a simmer and season broth with fish sauce, sugar and tom yum paste.

4. Add pineapple, tomatoes , elephant ear stem and okra. Then add the marinated cat fish.

5. Once fish is cooked, top off with rice paddy herbs and bean sprouts

6. Additionally you can add coriander and chilli for garnish