A Vietnamese Cooking Lesson - Lien's Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup (Canh Ngot)

While  one of our student's aunt was  visiting in September, I asked her to teach me how to make something Vietnamese. She bought over a large salmon and some vegetables and showed me how to make sweet and sour soup. As she worked, I asked questions and took notes.  

 This soup was for 10 people and so we used 15 cups of water for the broth and she said she buys 1 tomato for each person. That makes this soup easy to scale down. And of course you buy as much fish as you need.  She commented that besides salmon you can use any firm white fish for this soup.

Next time I will put about half the celery because one bunch makes way too much!  
This was my first time having a sweet & sour soup, and it was delicious!  

Lien's Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup

1.  Prepare vegetables:
(1)  Chop up 1 tomato per person (or a bit less if you want to reduce it!)
(2)  Chop 1 bunch of celery on the diagonal in 1" pieces
(3)  Slice 1 bunch of green onions (Slice the bottoms a little smaller, and the stems 1")
(4)  Chop up 1 package of dill


2.  Prepare the fish:  Have your butcher slice 1 whole salmon or other fish into steaks, she had her salmon cut into 10 pieces)

2.  Prepare soup:
(1)  Put 15 cups of water into a soup pot.  Add 1 T of salt.
(2)  When water boils, add the fish steaks
(3)  Let the water come to a boil again--about 5 minutes.
(4)  Then add 2 T of fish sauce and 1/2 T of brown sugar.
(5)  Add the sliced celery and bring to a boil again.
(6)  Then add the tomato wedges -- do not put the lid on the pot because she said it will change the color of the tomatoes.
(7)  Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons and add that to the pot.
(8)  Then put in the green onions and the dill about 1/2-3/4 cup depending on your taste.

List of My Favorite Soups, Chili & Stew Recipes: 

Beef 

Grandma's Favorite Beef Stew  (My mother-in-law's delicious recipe!)

Just Like Home Ukrainian Borscht  ( a Polish student  said this tasted like his mom's!)

Poultry

This is the Best Gluten Free Minestrone Soup!   (A recipe my son modified)

Mouth Watering Italian Turkey Sausage Soup   (This is  my friend Debbie's recipe)
Mexican Fiesta Chicken Soup   (A recipe I got years ago from a Mexican cookbook)
My Thanksgiving Turkey Soup  (My very own special concoction!)
Gary's Incredible Gluten Free Arkansas Gumbo  (Given to me by a Bible study friend)
Jeannie's French Market Soup  (A mom friend from when my kids were little)
Southwest Turkey Soup  (From my Syre School cookbook)

Fish
Northwest Salmon Chowder  (From my Heritage School cookbook)

Bean & Legumes
Vi's Best Chili  (A  Bible study friend's great recipe)
Bethany's Crowd Pleasing Tortilla Soup  (One of my daughter's friends special soup)
Country-Style Lentil Soup   (From my Heritage School cookbook)
Kathy's Texas Chili & Chips (From my Come & Dine cookbook)

Vegetable

Creamy Pumpkin Soup  (from Food Network)
My Favorite Gluten Free Pumpkin Curry Soup  (Combo from Food & All Recipes)
Downright Delicious Potato & Kale Soup  (From my daughter-in-law's family cookbook)

Asian
Chinese Chicken Soups  - Bok choy chicken, chicken & spinach, and chicken & cabbage
Make Your Own Gluten Free Chicken Pho!  (From a newspaper article)
Gluten Free Chinese Hot Pot  (Modified by a Chinese student)
Chinese Egg Drop Soup  &  Chinese Egg & Tomato Soup  (Adapted from our students)

Vegetarian & Gluten Free Tom Yum Soup (A delicious Thai soup) 
Deluxe Miso Soup (Kenchinjiru)   (Adapted from Internet search)
Making Thai Soup with a Thai Family - How to Make Tom Yum Kung  (A friend's recipe)
A Vietnamese Cooking Lesson - Lien's Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup  (An International student's aunt's recipe)