Vietnamese-style Hot and Sour Chicken Soup

Poor ilan is sick so yesterday in Vancouver we found him some Vietnamese hot and sour soup for lunch.  It was super yum, so today I decided to try to make something similar at home.  I pulled ideas from a whole bunch of different recipes and websites and here's what I ended up doing (roughly)...

Ingredients (prep everything first)

- 3 tbs minced garlic
- white part of two lemongrass stalks, sliced finely and minced
- 2 red chili peppers with seeds, finely sliced and minced (this made for spicy soup! Use 1 if you want it milder and/or remove seeds)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- some mushrooms (I think I used 7-8 creminis), quartered
- 3 celery stalks, cut into about 1cm long slices
- 1/2 head green cabbage, sliced into strips (next time I might leave it in somewhat bigger chunks)
- 3 large tomatoes, cut into 6-8 chunks
(You could use different veggies than the above if you like!)
- 1 can of pineapple tidbits
- 1/4 cup fish sauce plus a little more
- about 650mL of chicken broth (we had a yogourt container full in the freezer)
- if you have it, 2 tbs tamarind (I'm sure the soup would be fine even if you don't happen to have this on hand)
- about 1 cup boiling water to prep the tamarind
- fresh herbs for garnish: I used basil (even though I only had a wee bit), mint, and cilantro (could also use some spring onion, possibly even some fresh oregano)

Directions

1. Prep tamarind.  Put the tamarind paste in a bowl and add the boiling water.  Let sit about 15 minutes so tamarind softens.  Press the tamarind and water through a fine sieve into another bowl to extract as much tamarindyness as you can then discard the remaining tamarind chunks.

2. Prep the chicken. Slice the raw chicken across the grain into roughly 1/2cm thick slices.  Put in a bowl with some fish sauce and ground pepper then cover and put it in the fridge until you're ready for it.

3. In a large heavy bottomed soup pot, saute 2/3 of the garlic with the chili peppers and 2/3 of the lemon grass in some olive oil and/or schmaltz.  Once everything is nice and fragrant (about 30s), add 1/4 cup of fish sauce and cook for 2 minutes to reduce it.  Yes, it will smell intensely fishy.

4. Add the chicken stock and tamarind juice to the soup pot, adding a little extra water to help you get everything out of the bowls.  I'd add at least a cup or two of water at this stage.  You can also throw in the lemongrass tops in larger chunks if you like.  Bring to a boil.

5. Add the can of pineapple with juice and again rinse the can with water to get it all.  Add the chopped veggies (in my case, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, and the tomatoes - I added the tomatoes a little later than everything else and maybe should have waited longer than I did).  Reduce to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes (maybe less).

6. While the soup is simmering, heat some oil/schmaltz in a frying pan and add the remaining garlic and minced lemongrass.  Fry till fragrant (30s) then add a couple tbs of fish sauce.  Again, let it cook a minute or two to reduce down but not so much that everything starts sticking to the pan.  Add the sliced chicken and cook until just cooked through (about 4 mins).

7. Add the chicken to the soup, check to make sure everything is sufficiently cooked, and turn off the heat.

8. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh herbs.  Eat and enjoy!

ilan says: "If this soup doesn't cure me, nothing will!"