Holy Guacamole, Bat Man! Did I take a lot of pictures this time, or what?!
Our friend, Vinh, was here this past weekend. Last time he was here, we made
Vietnamese Spring Rolls. And I took pictures. Lots. But I think I outdid myself this time. Adam was even annoyed (hee hee). This time, it's sour soup. It's definitely a
sweet and sour soup, though. There is a lot of prep, but the actual making of this soup is s
ouper easy. We did our prep in the morning so all we had to do was boil water and throw it all in. The amounts below made enough for a small army, so if you decide to try this at your home, I would most definitely half all the amounts, except for the shrimp and fish. Keep those the same. Otherwise, you'll be eating this every day for the next two weeks. I'm just not kidding about this one.
Let's get down to business!
What you need and what to doBring 10-15 cups water to boil in a very large pot. I don't have a picture of this one. Imagine me boiling water. It's not hard. Although the altitude does challenge one's patience in the area of boiling time.
Also, prepare several cups of Jasmine rice. We made about 8 cups.
6 medium Malanga (I really wanted a link to this vegetable, but looked high and low for it. No go. I found something that resembled a potato, but this is most definitely
not a potato. It's most like celery, and Vinh says you can use celery in it's place. That's what it sort of tasted like, anyway.) If you do go to an Asian food store and find these babies, peel the outer layer using your fingers. It's sort of like if you peeled the entire outside surface of a stalk of celery. The peel is very stringy and tough. Get it all off. Also, cut off any brown you might find.
Look! This one's pregnant!
I was
sous chef Sunday evening, and Emma was
sous' sous chef. Isn't she cute?
Chop up the Malanga into bite size pieces. You can slice, then half if it's too big.
4 ripe tomatoes. Cut these into wedges.
One or two onions, peeled, halved and sliced.
3 cups fresh okra, stems removed and halved, if large.
One large, or two small pineapple, peeled (is that the word?), cored and chopped into bite-size pieces. Did you know you can suck on the core of the pineapple and get really good flavor and juice as a fun snack? Don't let it go to waste.
See, now you're learning
two new things today. Aren't you the lucky one?
Here's the Malanga and okra cut up, sitting in bowls. Waiting.
I'm not sure why I have this picture, but I do.
And I'm not going to waste it.
Next, you need
2 packages of Tamarind Soup base mix. Clearly, you're going to need a trip to the Asian food store for this recipe. I don't know what you'd use in place, but there's a chance your local market might have this, so just go see. I personally haven't checked.
This is a very distinct flavor. It's the
sour part of the soup. Very good, mild, not pucker-your-lips tart, just subtle.
Pour the two packages into about 15 cups of boiling water. You're going to need the
large pot for this recipe. Did I mention that?
Rinse
6-8 cups bean sprouts in cool water. You want to get off any dirt that might be clinging to them.
I love bean sprouts. Try just dipping raw sprouts in
hoisin sauce. Mmmm. I love hoisin sauce.
Clean and chop a
big handful of fresh Thai basil.
The basil we had was super sandy, so wash this very well. There's nothing worse than biting down on a nice grain of sand.
Place chopped basil in a small serving bowl. It's a garnish for the soup.
Rinse
1 1/2 pounds fresh shrimp, shells on. These are tiger shrimp. Aren't the beautiful? Really, even raw, beautiful.
Throw these in a smaller separate pot with boiling water. Cook until they're this bright orange/pink color. Even prettier!
Did you know leaving the shell on decreases the amount of shrinkage when cooked? I did not know that. Now I do.
(We've all seen the Seinfeld shrinkage episode, right? No need to say more.)
Rinse the cooked shrimp under cold water to stop the cooking process and to cool them down.
Time to shell 'em!
(Side note: Notice my raised left index finger? Yeah, I almost chopped off the tip last week. Nice.)
Now, you need
1 1/2 pounds fresh catfish, about 3 fillets. Usually, Vinh uses bone-in because it tends to hold up better when cooked, but he could only find boneless here. It worked fine.
Rinse this well under cold water before cooking.
Remember that humongo pot of boiling tamarind soup broth you've got going on the stove top? Carefully lower your catfish into it and cook until tender. Remove from pot and place on serving dish.
This is what it will look like when done. I realize it's not really very appetizing looking, but it's very tasty and tender. You're just going to have to trust me with this one. Until you try it at home.
After you've removed your catfish, toss the okra and onion into the soup broth. Let them cook for about 5-7 minutes. Maybe 10. I really can't remember this step. I must have been hustling a dog out of the kitchen at this point. The seafood smell was making her go crazy bonkers.
Next, add in the Malanga.
Then, add the tomatoes, pineapple and bean sprouts. You're really just going to flash-cook these, about 30 seconds, don't boil them to death. They should still be very fresh, just not cold still.
Using a large strainer, strain the broth into a separate bowl.
Now, you don't really need to do this step, but since most household don't have an
extra-huge humongo soup pot, this is the next best thing.
The table spread. See how we placed the shrimp and fish together?
The basil is behind it.
The veggies are all in a bowl with the broth in the background.
Here's how you serve yourself:
First, place some rice in your bowl, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups
Next, spoon in some veggies.
Place however many shrimp and pieces of fish in your bowl.
Pour on some broth.
Sprinkle in some basil, give a squirt or two of both hot sauce and fish sauce (not pictured, oops!), and dish up!
Caution: the contents of your bowl will be extremely hot!
Soup for you!!!(I know, again, with the Seinfeld.)
If anybody decides to venture into this dish, please let me know how it goes!
Whew! I don't know how the
Pioneer Woman does it with all her pictures, recipes, photos and posts. I'm exhausted!
Thanks guys, and happy cooking!
