Soups
Canh Chua (Vietnamese Sour Soup)
A southern Vietnamese sour soup from the Mekong Delta: a tamarind-based broth balanced with pineapple sweetness and fish sauce umami, filled with fish steaks or shrimp, tomatoes, okra, bean sprouts, and taro stem, finished with crispy fried garlic and a crown of fresh herbs. The soup's defining quality is the precise calibration of four tastes — sour (tamarind), sweet (pineapple), salty (fish sauce), and savory (the fish) — in a broth that is light but deeply flavoured. Catfish is traditional; salmon, snapper, or tilapia all work. Canh chua is eaten at every meal of the day in southern Vietnamese homes, almost always alongside cá kho tộ (caramelized fish in clay pot) and steamed white rice.
