Name: Tamarind Soup with Water Spinach (Canh Chua Rau Muống)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 1 garlic clove, chopped; 4 tablespoons fish sauce; 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) chicken stock; 150 g (5½ oz) bean sprouts; 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced and deep-fried; 10 okra, sliced in half on the diagonal; 1 elephant ear stem, sliced on the diagonal; 1 tomato, diced; 3 red Asian shallots, finely sliced and deep-fried; 150 g (5½ oz) tamarind pulp; 1 bunch rice paddy herb, chopped; 200 g (7 oz) water spinach (ong choy), leaves and 5 cm (2 in) of stem only; 1 bird’s eye chilli, chopped; 250 g (9 oz) beef sirloin steak, sliced into 2 mm (1/16 in) wide pieces; 2 teaspoons vegetable oil; 4 tablespoons sugar

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Secrets of the Red Lantern

By Pauline Nguyen , Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen

Published 2007

About

Ingredients

150 g (5½ oz) tamarind pulp
1 litre (35

Method

Dissolve the tamarind pulp in 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) warm water. Work the pulp until dissolved and then strain the liquid through a fine sieve, discarding the pulp. Combine the chicken stock, tamarind liquid, fish sauce and sugar in a large clay pot or a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Add the water spinach, tomato, elephant ear stem, okra and bean sprouts and return to the boil. Meanwh