Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Soup (Canh Chua Chay)

When I was a kid, my parents took us to the Cao Dai Temple in Riverside every other Sunday and I always remember looking forward to eating the Canh Chua Chay, Vietnamese Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Soup, every time we visited. Canh Chua Chay is one of the first vegetarian/vegan dishes I fell in love with and look forward to eating when I see it.

For this recipe, I used Quoc Viet’s Canh Chua Soup Base. All I had to do was mix the magical soup base with water, bring it to a boil, add the ingredients you want, and season to taste. I also like to use canned pineapple for its convenience and consistent taste each time. This recipe is super customizable. Add whatever veggies and proteins you like!

You can check out the IG Reel for this cook here.

Ingredients:
12 ounces fried tofu or vegan-friendly proteins
1/4 cup Quoc Viet Canh Chua Soup Base, or 10 ounces cooking tamarind concentrate
8 cups of filtered water
1/3 cup sugar, more or less to taste
8-ounce canned pineapple chunks plus juice
2 tomatoes, quartered
10 okra, halved diagonally
4 ounces taro stem or elephant ear, peeled and sliced diagonally
3.5 ounces enoki mushrooms
2 cups bean sprouts
1 bunch rice paddy herb (ngò om), finely chopped
4 Thai chilies
1-2 tablespoons fried garlic oil
salt to taste

Steps:

Prepare Veggies – Rinse, clean, and prepare veggies and set aside.

Make Canh Chua – In a medium/large stockpot, bring 8 cups of water, Quoc Viet Canh Chua soup base, sugar, and canned pineapple to a boil. Add proteins and simmer for ~5 minutes. Add Okra, elephant ear, enoki mushrooms, and tomatoes, and continue simmering for ~5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add bean sprouts, 3/4 of the rice paddy herb, and Thai chilies. Give everything a good mix. Transfer soup to a large bowl and garnish with garlic oil and remaining rice paddy herb. Serve immediately with rice or vermicelli noodles.

Tips:

• Tamarind comes in a seasoning form or paste form. You can also buy tamarind pulp and dissolve it in water to make tamarind liquid.
• Substitute cubed chicken thighs or catfish for tofu to make it non-vegetarian.
• Substitute sliced celery for taro stem/elephant ear if taro stem/elephant ear is unavailable.
• Adjust sugar depending on how tangy you want the soup. I like it more on the sweeter side.
• I like to add veggies at different times because I like to keep the colors as bright as possible and still have a bit to it and not taste too soggy.