Canh dua chua- Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Fermented Mustard Green Soup

Canh dua chua

It’s been a while since I cooked with my dad but we started back up again with one of his favorite soups!

This time I’ll be cooking while he sits on his throne and shows me what to do 😂🤷‍♂️.

Canh Dua Chua- Vietnamese sweet and sour fermented mustard green soup.

When you think of Vietnamese soup you probably automatically think Pho right? Well in Vietnamese family households we typically have a daily home-style soup with our dinners.

Canh dua chua is simply translated as pickled mustard soup and it is similar to a sweet and sour soup.

Tomatoes, and fermented mustard greens adds a nice sour tang to this hot soup. And although this is typically made using chicken stock or pork rib broth, you can make it totally vegetarian or vegan as well!

To make it vegetarian we’ll use just water for the broth and season it with fermented mustard green brine, vegetable powder, garlic, onions, salt, sugar, tamarind powder for that extra zing, and optional fish sauce (omit if you want it vegan).

I used fermented mustard greens using Gai choi mustard greens that I previously fermented, see recipe -here-.

INGREDIENTS

2 tbs Tea Seed oil  (Avocado, or light EVOO)

2 garlic cloves (smashed and minced)

1 medium sized sweet onion or shallot onion

1.5 cups fermtented mustard greens including ½ cup pickling brine (see link above for fermented mustard green recipe, or use store bought pickled mustard greens, squeeze & drain mustard greens and reserve 1/2 cup of the brine in a separate bowl)

1 tomatoes, cut in wedges (sliced into about 4-6 pieces)

3 cups water

1 tsp Sugar

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Tamarind powder 

1 tsp Vegetable powder (or mushroom powder)

Fish sauce (optional to taste, I used 1 tsp of Red Boat Fish Sauce)

GARNISH

Green onion or chives

Cilantro 

1 birds eye chili 

PREPARATION

1.  Saute 2 tbs of oil with minced garlic with onions until fragrant over medium heat. Then add drained mustard greens and saute until fragrant.  

2.  Add water, salt (and optional protein) and bring to a boil. 

3. Add mustard green brine, tomatoes and bring to boil.  Then simmer until veggies are slightly softened (about 5-10 min and skim off any impurities from the surface).   

4. Season soup with sugar, vegetable powder, optional fish sauce, tamarind powder, and optional chicken bouillon powder. Adjust seasoning to your taste if needed (add sugar to make less sour, more tamarind for more sour, or more salt for saltier). 

5. Remove from heat, add chives or green onions and cilantro for final garnishing.

A note about using fish: You’ll see variations of this using a fish like salmon or tilapia or another firm fish. If using fish, sautee fish in separate pan first with a little oil, add to soup, and add dill for garnishing instead of cilantro.