Vietnamese Fish Soup with Pickled Mustard Green (Canh Cá Nấu Dưa Chua)

Looking for an easy Vietnamese soup recipe because you’re missing the taste of home and don’t know where to start? Well here it is! Check out this very simple sweet and sour fish soup with pickled mustard green (canh ca dua chua). No need to marinate anything. Toss everything in one pot and you’re done. Serve with steamed rice for a complete meal.

This recipe is a lot simpler than tamarind-based sweet and sour soup (canh chua). There’s not a lot of vegetables involved. The only vegetable is pickled mustard green that you can simply pick up at your local Asian store or even order even online. There’s no hard-to-find Vietnamese herb as well.

Vietnamese Family Meal with Sour Fish Soup with Pickled Mustard Green (Canh Cá Nấu Dưa Chua)

Everything comes together in under 20 minutes and that’s mostly waiting for the fish to cook. Serve this alongside steamed rice and your favorite Vietnamese protein side dish. Here I’m having my soup with caramelized shrimp and blanched okra. The optional dipping sauce for the fish is a few squirts of soy sauce and slices of chili peppers.

And yes, there is a lot of sugar to this recipe. Like most Vietnamese sour soup recipes, sugar is needed to balance out the tartness. Depending on the type of sugar you use, you may need more or less. I recommend to add the seasoning a bit at a time so it suits your taste.

Recipe below. Happy cooking!

Other Sweet & Sour Soups You May Enjoy

Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery
Pompano Fish and Sour Bamboo Soup
Make Hot Pot at Home: Simple Thai-Style Tom Yum Hot Pot
Sweet & Sour Shrimp Soup with Taro Stems

Popular Fish Dishes to Complete the Meal

Vietnamese Grilled or Baked Snakehead Fish
Steamed Fish with Scallions, Ginger and Soy Sauce
Crispy Pan-Fried Red Tilapia Fish
Braised & Caramelized Catfish

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Vietnamese Fish Soup with Pickled Mustard Green (Canh Ca Nau Dua Chua)

Serves 3-5

Ingredients

Soup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic (peel and mince)
1 shallot (peel and mince)
2 quarts water
1 lb fish (in this recipe, I'm using a one yellow pomfret; cut into steaks)
1 10.5-oz vacuumed sealed package pickled mustard green (reserve pickling liquid; cut into bite-size pieces)
6 large cherry tomatoes (optional)

Soup Seasoning

5 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder

Instructions

In a medium size pot, heat up vegetable oil on medium high. Add garlic and shallot. Saute until fragrant (about 15 seconds).
Slowly add water. Be careful of hot oil splatter. Turn heat to high to quickly bring water to a boil.
Add fish and cook for 15 minutes on a low simmer. Skim off impurities that float to the top as needed.
Add pickled green mustard, including all its pickling liquid and tomatoes. Continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Season soup with sugar, salt, fish sauce and chicken bouillon powder. Adjust seasoning to your taste if needed.

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