Spicy & sour shrimp soup

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Stephen Ceideburg
2 ounces Lump tamarind, or 2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
½ cup Boiling water
8 ounces Raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup Plus 1 ts nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
2 Shallots, thinly sliced
3 Stalks fresh lemon grass, white bulb crushed and cut into 2-Inch sections
1 large Ripe tomato, cored, seeded and cut into wedges
2 tablespoons Sugar
¼ Fresh ripe pineapple, cored, cut into 1/4-inch slices and then cut crosswise into small chunks
½ cup Fresh or canned bamboo shoots, drained and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Fresh red chili peppers, minced
½ cup Fresh bean sprouts
1 Scallion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Shredded mint

Directions

This soup has become a staple on my table. It's relatively quick to make and absolutely delicious. I've made it with chicken as well as shrimp and have some red snapper in the freezer to try out the next time. Squid's a natural for this dish. It's from Southern Vietnam.

You can make it as sour or spicy as you want by juggling the amounts of the ingredients that give those qualities. It makes a complete meal as is and is excellent with salad rolls or cha gio (fried "spring" rolls).

Soak the lump tamarind in the boiling water for 15 minutes, or until the tamarind is soft. Force the tamarind through a fine sieve into a small bowl. If tamarind concentrate is used, dilute it with only ¼ cup of warm water. Cut each shrimp lengthwise in half. In a bowl, combine the shrimp, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the fish sauce and pepper to taste. Let stand for 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the shallots and lemon grass and saute briefly, without browning. Add the tomato and sugar and cook over moderate heat until slightly soft. Add the pineapple and bamboo shoots and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the tamarind liquid, salt and the remaining ¼ cup fish sauce. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer the broth for 5 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, chiles and bean sprouts and cook for 30 seconds more. Add the scallion and mint. Remove from the heat. Remove and discard the lemon grass. Ladle the soup into a heated tureen and serve at once. Note: Do not overcook the shrimp or they will toughen. Catfish, red snapper or any other firm white-fleshed fish can replace the shrimp. From "The Foods of Vietnam" by Nicole Rauthier. Stewart, Tabori & Chang. 1989.

NOTE: I've been pushing Vietnamese cuisine long enough here that the ingredients shouldn't be too unfamiliar to regulars. Some of this stuff will probably have to come from an Asian market, but you can make some substitutions. Tamarind is made from the interior pulp of a tree seed pod and is quite sour. It has a subtly sweet taste too.

I've never done it, but I imagine that you could substitute lemon juice for the tamarind and still retain the essential character of the soup. Lemon grass can be replaced by grated lemon zest with a bit of juice--it's the lemon taste rather than the sourness that's wanted here. Dried lemon grass is available and is virtually as good as the fresh stuff. It's inexpensive and keeps well on the shelf. (I grow my own lemon grass--it's a really easy and pest free plant to grow.

If you manage to find some fresh lemon grass, whack off the bottom couple of inches and stick it in a flower pot full of good potting soil. Don't water the cutting too heavily until it starts to grow.

Chances are that it will take off and then you can transplant it into the ground--it likes rich, well drained soil and full sun.) There's NO substitute for fish sauce. The soup would probably be good without it, but it wouldn't be the same. Since there's not that much difference between canned and fresh pineapple (at least here on the mainland) I use canned stuff, drained and chopped. If you're ever in a market and see fresh Thai pineapple, grab some. The stuff I had in Thailand made our Hawaiian pineapples pale in comparison.

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