Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup (Canh Chua Ca Tre)

Whenever I return home from travel, I feel like I have nothing more than traditional Vietnamese food made at home. And nothing more traditional than Vietnamese sweet and sour catfish soup (Canh Chua Cá Trê) and Brazilian and caramelized beef catfish (Cá Kho). A fish. Two easy dishes.best french restaurant in hanoi Add the steamed white rice and have a cooked Vietnamese homemade meal.

Vietnamese sweet catfish soup (Canh Chua Ca Tre) is one of many traditional Vietnamese soups, but it is this soup that represents Vietnamese domestic cuisine. How? It perfectly balances the delicate combination of sweet, sour and salty. Sweetness comes from sugar. Tazor comes from tamarind, which is mixed with sugar. And lastly, salty is obviously catfish.

Canh Chua there are many variations. However, they all include tomatoes, others may include stalk, mushrooms, okra, celery, bean sprouts and / or pineapple.

What makes Canh Chua my favorite soup of all time is the ending. When the soup is ready to serve, count on aromatic leaves of Thai basil or rice herbs and a generous heap of freshly fried garlic. Just imagine the aroma when serving the soup. He has no orgasm for his nose!

In the recipe below, keep it simple by using tomatoes and bean sprouts. For protein,vietnamese restaurant hanoi I used catfish, but I also love using salmon when I have it in my hand. Happy food!
INGREDIENTS
Fish

1/2 lb of catfish (clean and cut into 1-inch steaks)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Soup

8 cups of water
5 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons tamarind powder (or 40 grams of tamarind powder dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water, poured and discarded)
1 tablespoon chicken or mushroom
1 teaspoon salt
Vegetables / Other Ingredients

4 large tomatoes (about 1 lb; quarter)
2 cups bean sprouts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
8-10 sprigs of Thai basil (remove the leaves from the stem and cut into thin strips)
1 Thai chili (optional for those who like spicy)
INSTRUCTIONS
Marinate the catfish with fish sauce at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.
Add water (8 cups) to a medium-sized skillet and bring to a boil.
Add the catfish,vietnamese restaurant hanoi along with its juices. Cook for 15 minutes over low heat. Use a mesh or small spoon to remove any slag floating upwards.
Add sugar, tamarind powder, chicken broth powder and salt. If you are using tamarind pulp instead of tamarind powder, scoop one or more cups of hot water from the pot into a small bowl. Add the tamarind pulp to the hot water. Whisk the pulp with the back of a spoon until it separates from the seeds. Strain the pulp into the pot, discarding the remaining tamarind seeds.
Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the fire.
Add the bean sprouts. The residual heat will cook the bean sprouts.
In a small saucepan, heat high vegetable oil and fry the garlic until golden. Transfer the fried garlic and oil to the pan.
Top with basil and bell pepper.