Dill & Taro Soup- Canh Khoai Môn Recipe- Mom’s Recipe

As a kid I loved how soft and gooey these taro potatoes are.  Today, that texture still tickles my tastebuds 😋. This was one of my favorite soups that my mom made, quick, simple, but so flavorful!

This soup is a very homestyle comfort food that my parents used to cook all the time at home when we were kids. Typically at our dinner table there was almost always a soup to accompany our meat/fish dish. This soup was always one of my favorites because of the soft, sweet, and unique taste and texture of the taro potatoes.

Though some other recipes don’t use tomatoes, the addition of that makes it more familiar for me but also adds a touch of orange/red color and a slight sweet tang to this tasty soup. My dad typically used pork spare ribs to flavor the broth but today’s soup is my mom’s recipe that uses only dried and fresh shrimp.

My dad’s recipe is slightly different with the addition of garlic and some pork bones, see -here-.

Otherwise, see below for mom’s pescatarian recipe!

INGREDIENTS
3-5 asian dried shrimps (3 if it’s bigger shrimps, 4-5 if they’re smaller sized shrimps, rehydrated, and chopped)
8-10 frozen or fresh medium sized shrimps (de-frosted, deveined, washed, and smashed)

6 cups water
8 taro potatoes peeled, washed, drained and cut into quarters (cubes)
1 medium roma or large plum tomato (cut into 2" chunks, or quartered)

1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt (+ more to taste if needed)

1 tsp fish sauce (or more to taste)
2 stalks spring onion - green part only, thinly chopped (reserve some for final garnishing)
1-2 sprigs dill (no stems, reserve some for final garnishing)

Garnish:
Dill
Spring onion

PREPARATION:
1. Rehydrate dried shrimp: place shrimp in cold water for about 2-3 hours, and drain. Then chop into smaller pieces.
2. If using raw shrimp, defrost, devein, wash. Then smash with the side of your knife to flatten the shrimp.
3. Wash and drain all herbs. Thinly slice scallions, trim off stems for dill and chop into smaller pieces and set aside.

BROTH PREPARATION
1. Heat pot on high heat, add 6 cups water and bring to a boil.
2. Add potatoes, salt, pepper, and bring to boil.
3. After you get a nice rolling boil lower heat to a medium low heat and simmer until the taro potatoes are soft (take a potato out and bite into it, if it's still a little hard inside, cook longer). Then add tomatoes and cook for another 5 min or so until the tomato chunks start to fall apart. Add fish sauce.
4. Taste, and add salt/black pepper/or fish sauce to taste.
5. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with fresh chopped spring onion and fresh dill.