Vietnamese Cabbage and Shrimp Soup (Canh Bap Cai Nau Tom)
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Vietnamese Cabbage & Shrimp Soup (Canh Bắp Cải Nấu Tôm)
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 meal, it made eating the last grain of rice in my bowl a lot easier. Every. Single. Grain … until I found out that was a lie to get me to finish my food. Not cool.
Traditional family shrimp dinner: Vietnamese Cabbage & Shrimp Soup (Canh Bắp Cải Nấu Tôm) with Vietnamese caramelized shrimp (Tôm Kho Tiêu)
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
Shrimp, cabbage, garlic, green onions, and carrots
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 very young, old, and those wanting to avoid the rice demons in the afterlife.
Shrimp Marinade: sugar, fish sauce, ground black pepper, tapioca starch and chicken bouillon powder
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 and 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 marinated 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. 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.
Vietnamese Cabbage & Shrimp Soup (Canh Bắp Cải Nấu Tôm)
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!
Vietnamese Cabbage & Shrimp Soup (Canh Bắp Cải Nấu Tôm)
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 Bắp Cải Nấu Tôm)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Peel and devein shrimp. I like to leave the tail on but that is optional. To tenderize the shrimp, place a plastic wrap over the shrimp to prevent sticking then gently flatten it with a small rolling pin or anything flat and heavy. See the picture above for reference. This will also make for a beautiful presentation once cooked.
- Marinate shrimp with half of the following seasonings for 5 minutes: salt, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, fish sauce, and ground black pepper. Dread the shrimp in tapioca starch, dust off excess, and set aside. The tapioca starch provides a silky texture to the shrimp once cooked.
- 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.
- In a medium-size pot, heat up oil on medium-high. Add garlic and the white ends of the green onions. Saute 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). Avoid overcooking the shrimp to keep them tender and moist. 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.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
132Fat
6 gSat. Fat
1 gCarbs
19 gFiber
4 gNet carbs
15 gSugar
8 gProtein
3 gSodium
1965 mgCholesterol
4 mgThe values provided should be considered estimates. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. To obtain accurate nutritional information for a recipe, use your preferred nutrition calculator to determine nutritional information with the actual ingredients and quantities used.
