Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Suon Khoai Tay Ca Rot Bong Cai Trang)

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Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Suon Khoai Tay Bong Cai Trang)

Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Sườn Khoai Tây Ca Rốt Bông Cải Trắng)

‘Tis the season for soups! Well, not exactly here in Sacramento just yet. It’s still unbearably hot here until late November. But for those who are now experiencing cold weather, this is a soup for you.

Vietnamese pork spare rib soup with potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower is a staple in my house. It’s hearty, comforting, and delicious. Best of all, it is made with easy-to-find and cheap ingredients. It’s the perfect soup for cold winter days, for those who feel under the weather or simply, for those who want a taste of home. Enjoy this soup on its own to warm the belly or as a side dish with steamed rice in a traditional Vietnamese family-style dinner.

Related Post: The Guide to Cooking Perfectly Steamed Rice: Asian Kid Edition

Cauliflower, green onions, shallots, garlic, potatoes, and carrots

Cauliflower, green onions, shallots, garlic, potatoes, and carrots

Broth

This broth in this soup is made from slowly simmering pork spare ribs. Carrots, potatoes, and cauliflower are then added to the pot and simmered until fork tender. The low simmering brings out all the sweetness of the vegetables into the pot, making it a flavorful and hearty broth.

Some people like to parboil the bones separately to remove the impurities before they even start to make the broth. This is a traditional method to ensure a clean and clear broth. However, with soups, you can easily skim off the impurities at the top as they clump together and float to the top. For that reason, I’m skipping the parboiling step here. This makes the recipe easier and quicker.

I still wash the bones thoroughly before using them in a dish. Sometimes I scrub them down with a bit of coarse salt to remove any surface yuckiness then rinse them with water. This is entirely optional but highly recommended.

Prep Ingredients: Cauliflower, green onions, shallots, garlic, potatoes, and carrots

Cut everything into bite-size pieces

What You Will Need

Pork Ribs — In American grocery stores, ribs are often sold in large slabs, which are intended for the barbecue grill. You can take the ribs home, cut in between the bones then use a large knife to hack them into bite-size pieces. Be careful of those fingers! If a butcher is available, you can ask the butcher to cut the spare ribs into 1½” pieces for you. They will most likely oblige if asked nicely.

At Asian grocery stores, you will often find pork ribs as strings of ribs, rather than large slabs. The strings of ribs are the large slabs, just cut perpendicularly to the bones and simply connected by the meat. This way, you can separate the ribs easily with a knife at home without the risk of losing a body part.

Strings of pork spare ribs

Carrots, Potatoes, and Cauliflower — Carrots provide the natural sweetness to the broth, and why no added sugar is needed. If you don’t have carrots, use its albino cousins, daikons or parsnips. Caulifower can be replaced with broccoli. However, the green may leak out and darken the broth if overcooked.

Green Onions — You can’t have an Asian dish without green onions. If you don’t have green onions, use cilantro.

Fish Sauce — The main flavoring agent of Southeast Asia.

Salt — A bit of salt because too much of a good thing (fish sauce) can result in a fishy smell.

Chicken or Mushroom Bouillion Powder — The ultimate Vietnamese home cooking cheat and why our mothers’ soups taste so good. Yes, it contains a bit of MSG. Yes, you can omit and replace it with a bit of salt.

Ground Black Pepper — Because it’s awesome.

Shallots, Garlic, and Whites of Green Onions/Scallions — Our main aromatics for that amazing Asian perfume.

Neutral Oil — Just a bit to fry the aromatics. I’m using vegetable oil.

Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Suon Khoai Tay Bong Cai Trang)

Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Sườn Khoai Tây Ca Rốt Bông Cải Trắng)

Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots & Cauliflower (Canh Suon Khoai Tay)https://youtu.be/fM0euAGHNIsVietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots & Cauliflower (Canh Suon Khoai Tay)http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/fM0euAGHNIs/hqdefault.jpg2022-10-04
Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Sườn Khoai Tây Ca Rốt Bông Cải Trắng)
Yield 4
Author Vicky Pham
Prep time
5 Min
Cook time
40 Min
Total time
45 Min

Vietnamese Pork Spare Rib Soup with Potatoes, Carrots and Cauliflower (Canh Sườn Khoai Tây Ca Rốt Bông Cải Trắng)

Simple, delicious, and comforting Vietnamese soup made with easy-to-find and affordable ingredients. It's the perfect soup for cold winter days and for those who feel under the weather. This hearty and filling soup can be eaten on its own or enjoyed as a side dish with steamed rice.

Ingredients

Pork and Vegetables
Soup
Garnishes

Instructions

  1. In a medium-sized pot, add vegetable oil and heat on high. Add whites of green onions, shallots, and garlic. Fry until fragrant (about 20 seconds).
  2. Add pork ribs and toss in the aromatics until covered. Add water. Bring the pot to a low simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Skim off the impurities at the top, if needed.
  3. Add the carrots, potatoes, and cauliflower. Cook until vegetables are chopstick-tender (about 10-12 minutes).
  4. Season to taste with fish sauce, salt, chicken bouillon powder, and ground black pepper. When ready to serve, garnish with remaining green onions and an additional sprinkle of ground black pepper.

Notes

You can replace pork ribs with beef ribs or bone-in chicken thighs.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

431

Fat

30

Sat. Fat

9

Carbs

19

Fiber

3

Net carbs

17

Sugar

2

Protein

20

Sodium

838

Cholesterol

91

The 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.

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side dish
vietnamese
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