Who else was told as a kid that if you don’t eat all the rice in your bowl, you have to eat all the rice that you wasted in the afterlife?
Thanks to soups that are always served with a home-cooked rice meals, it made eating the last grain of rice in my bowl a lot easier.
Then I realized it was just something parents said to make sure their kids finished every last bite. So not cool.
Vietnamese soups, or canh, are vegetable soups with a bit of protein. It’s not meant to be a full meal in itself, rather, served among other side dishes in a traditional family meal.
Canh can be found on my dinner table on any given weeknight whenever steamed rice is served, which is pretty much every night.
Related Post: The Guide to Cooking Perfectly Steamed Rice: Asian Kid Edition
The soup serves as a great palate cleanser in between bites of other flavorful dishes such as Vietnamese caramelized shrimp (Tôm Rim). It also softens and moistens the rice, making eating quick and easy for the little and old ones.
Canh can be light and savory such as chayote soup (canh su su). Other times they can be bold in flavors such as sweet and spicy tamarind soup (canh chua).
For this soup recipe, I’m making it light and savory with cabbage and carrots, using shrimp as my protein of choice. The large shrimp are butterflied and pounded thin and dread in tapioca starch, which greatly improves the texture of the shrimp.
Once the shrimp are prepped, they are seaoned with a bit of sugar, salt, fish sauce, ground black pepper, and of course, chicken bouillon powder (hạt nêm gà), the Great Southeast Asian culinary cheat here in the West. You can leave out the bouillon powder if you can’t find any. For me, it completes that last bit of flavor profile that you didn’t know was missing.
The shrimp is added to the pot towards the end of cooking to keep it moist and tender. Before serving, garnish with thinly sliced green onions and a dash of ground black pepper for that wow factor.
The resulting soup is a deliciously light and flavorful soup with succulent and velvety smooth shrimp. From start to finish, the soup comes together in 20 minutes, making it perfect for a busy weeknight dinner.
Recipe below. Happy cooking!
Other Soups You May Enjoy
- Kabocha Squash Soup with Chicken
- Pork Spare Rib Soup with Opo Squash
- Kabocha Pumpkin Soup with Minced Shrimp
- Stuffed Cabbage and Ground Pork Soup
Popular Dishes to Complete the Meal
- Vietnamese Ginger Chicken (Ga Kho Gung)
- Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Spare Ribs
- Lazy Pan-Fried Lemongrass Pork Ribs with Sweet & Savory Glaze
- Easy Chinese-Style Soy Sauce Braised Pork Ribs
- Kid-Friendly Vietnamese Pan-Fried Ground Pork Patties
Vietnamese Cabbage and Shrimp Soup (Canh Bap Cai Nau Tom)
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Description
A light and savory soup with cabbage, carrots, and whole shrimp as my protein of choice. The soup comes together in 20 minutes, making it perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Eat with another protein side dish for a complete meal with steamed rice.
Ingredients
- 12 medium-size shrimp (size 21/25)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt (divided)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (divided)
- 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder (divided)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (divided)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (divided)
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 small cabbage
- 1 medium carrot
- 3 green onions
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 3/4 quarts water
Instructions
- Prepare the shrimp. I like to leave the tail on but that is optional. Tenderize the shrimp by placing a plastic wrap over the shrimp to prevent sticking then gently flatten it with a small rolling pin or anything flat and heavy. Repeat for all shrimp. Season with half of the following: salt, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, fish sauce, and ground black pepper. Dread each shrimp in tapioca starch, dust off excess, and set aside.
- Cut the cabbage into bite-size pieces. Peel the carrot and cut it into small 1-inch rounds. Cut green onions into 1-inch segments. Set aside.
- Prepare the soup. In a medium pot, heat up oil on medium-high. Add garlic and the white ends of the green onions. Sauté until garlic is golden (about 10 seconds). Add water to the garlic and oil mixture (be careful of hot oil splatters). Bring water to a boil.
- Add carrots and simmer on medium-low for 8 minutes or tender carrots are chopstick-tender. Add cabbage and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
- Drop in shrimp one at a time, and continue to cook until shrimp turn opaque (about 1 minute).
- Season soup to taste with remaining salt, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, and fish sauce. When ready to serve, garnish with remaining green onions and remaining ground black pepper.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: side dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: asian, vietnamese
