Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery (Canh Chua Cá Bông Lau Nấu Cần Tây)

I like to say that to be a true Vietnamese or to become an honorary Vietnamese, one must successfully make (1) fish sauce dipping sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham) and (2) sweet and sour soup (Canh Chua). Here is a thorough written recipe with video instructions to help you accomplish the latter.

Life is incomplete without Canh Chua. It’s always on my weekly rotations in the pham-le household (get it? get it?). I love all the contrasting flavors of spicy, sweet and sour…all in one pot. It’s one of the many soup dishes to go with steamed rice in a traditional Vietnamese family meal.

There are many varieties of canh chua (check out the links below). The sour component in canh chua comes from tamarind. The sweetness comes from sugar (mostly). I usually buy one whole catfish (with head) at the market. I cut the catfish into steaks and reserve most of the steaks for braised claypot catfish (Ca Kho To), and its head and remaining steaks for canh chua. This way I get two dishes out of the same protein.

For this particular canh chua recipe, I’m using celery (can tay) and of course, tomatoes. You can’t have canh chua without tomatoes.

Serve this traditional soup with steamed rice and other side dishes for a complete Vietnamese family meal.

Related Post: The Guide to Cooking Perfectly Steamed Rice: Asian Kid Edition

Recipe below. Video on top. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery (Canh Chua Cá Bông Lau Nấu Măng Tây)

Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery (Canh Chua Cá Bông Lau Nấu Măng Tây)

Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery (Canh Chua Cá Bông Lau Nấu Măng Tây)

Complete the Meal

Sour soup is traditionally served with caramelized claypot catfish (Ca Kho).

Looking for something else? Try these other popular side dishes:

Caramelized Pork Spare Ribs (Suon Khia or Suon Ram Man)
Caramelized and Braised Pork Belly with Eggs (Thit Kho Tau)
Ginger Chicken (Ga Kho Gung)
Bitter Melon and Eggs (Kho Qua Xao Trung)
Caramelized Shrimp (Tom Rim)

Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Catfish Soup with Celery (Canh Chua Ca Bong Lau Nau Can Tay)

Serves 3-5

Ingredients

Fish

• 1 lb catfish (I typically use a whole catfish head and 1-2 catfish steaks)

Soup

• 1-3/4 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 oz tamarind pulp (dissolve in 1/3 cup hot water, strain and discard pulp)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Vegetables / Other Ingredients

• 1 lb tomatoes (quarter)
• 1 lb celery (remove outside fibers and slice thinly at a diagonal)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 garlic cloves (mince)
• 1 cup Thai basil leaves
• 2 Thai chili pepper (optional; slice thin)

Instructions

1. At the bottom of medium-size stock pot, heat up vegetable oil on medium high. Add garlic and fry until golden. Remove garlic and set aside.
2. Add catfish and toss in aromatic garlic oil. Add water (1-3/4 quarts). Bring the pot it to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Occasionally, use a mesh or small spoon to scoop out any impurities (foam) that float to the top.
3. Season stock with fish sauce, chicken bouillon powder, sugar, strained tamarind pulp and salt.
4. Add celery and cook for 5 minutes (celery needs more cooking time than tomatoes). Add tomatoes. Cook for 1-2 minutes then turn off heat.
5. Top with basil, chili pepper and fried garlic.