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Soup is an indispensable dish in almost Vietnamese families’ daily meals. From past to the present, Vietnamese people have created many soup dishes which are made from several ingredients, including vegetables, herbs, meats, seafood… Vietnamese soup is very sweet, usually made from broths. Vietnamese soup is also appreciated by many foreign tourists.
I. Introduction Of Vietnamese Soup Dishes:
Vietnamese soup seems to be a familiar delicious dish to many people in Vietnam. In the country where the sun heating the fields but also squeezing the sweat of the farmers and workers; where in June “crab emerges from the water” but people still go to the fields, a bowl of sour soup is really a gift of nature. Soup is associated with Vietnamese taste, culture, and soul, with the working life of thousands of people from past to present.
Soup is the top choice of Vietnamese people when the summer comes. The daily meals of Vietnamese families can lack any dish, but they almost never forget the soup. Vietnamese soup is variated in many different forms; for example, water spinach soup, sour rib soup, fish sour soup, … Vietnamese soup dishes can be made with many kinds of herbs or sour fruits, such as lime, kumquat, dracontomelum, star fruit, tomato, pickle … Each soup has its own unique taste, carrying the features of the tropical land.
Made from simple ingredients, which are available in the markets and super markets, soups, through the skillful hands of the chef, always has a certain position in Vietnamese cuisine and culture.
Vietnamese soup dishes themselves are always preferred and used throughout the year. In tropical countries, soup dishes play an important role: adding water to the body and balancing the heat, as well as increasing the flavor of the meal. Sticking with Vietnamese life, soups are also changed according to each separate region, becoming the specific dishes of the regions. Every kind of soup expresses the essence and characteristics of the region in which it exists. Soup – so – is quite worthy to represent Vietnamese cuisine.
In the past, when the economy met a lot of difficulties, if it was to hard to prepare a nutritious and delicious meal with a lot of dishes, such as fish and meat, Vietnamese people just needed to prepare a pot of soup, some vegetables, and some salted eggplants to bring about joy for their dears in the family.
Vietnamese soup dishes are not only present in ordinary meals but also are delicious dishes in the wedding feast, festivals, in restaurants, and diners. Soups can become more luxurious when they are “transformed” into rib soup or fish soup. A sip of sour and sweet soup can quickly relieve the heat and refresh our body effectively.
II. Common Soup Dishes:
There are many soup dishes in Vietnam which are very nutritious and delicious, making Vietnamese daily meals really special and worth trying! Here are some common and tasty soup dishes which are simple to make with rustic ingredients:
1. Squash And Fresh Shrimp Soup:
This is a simple-to-make Vietnamese soup which is very tasty with the freshness of shrimps, broth and squash.
Ingredients:
– Squash
– Medium size shrimps
– Bone broth or pure water
– Spices, fish sauce, scallions, coriander
2. Papaya Soup:
The natural freshness of papaya and shrimps make papaya soup an attractive and delicious Vietnamese soup which is enjoyed and unforgettable soup dish.
Ingredients:
– Riped papaya (not too riped)
– Medium size shrimps
– Scallions, fish sauce, salt, pepper
– Purple onions
3. Anabas Starfruit Soup:
Every rainy season, villagers prepare the baskets, bamboo traps, or nets to go fishing and catch anabases. People just need to put their bamboo trap or basket in the water flows over one night to get a bunch of fresh fish for their family’s daily meal.
Anabas flesh is fatty yet tighter, fresher, and more fragrant than industrial anabases, and this is always a popular rustic ingredient in many dishes of Vietnamese people.
There are a lot of ways to process anabases. Some dishes are simple to cook, such as fried anabas, braised anabas, anabas spinach soup, anabas porridge … but, the most delicious dish made from this fish is the anabas starfruit soup.
Anabas and fresh starfruit are the 2 popular ingredients in the rural areas in Vietnam. The combination of these two foods will give you a very attractive dish.
Ingredients:
– Fresh anabas
– Fresh starfruit
– Tomatoes
– Chopped garlic
– Tamarind sauce
– Sugar
– Spices
– Cooking oil
– Onions, enydra fluctuans, Chinese coriander, chilli
4. Cartilage Squash Soup:
Cartilage squash soup is very fresh and cool, made from easy-to-find ingredients. In addition, this Vietnamese soup is very simple to make.
Ingredients:
– Cartilage or pig’s bone
– Squash
– Scallion, salt, sugar
Side dishes for soup
– Coriander
5. Chicken Pineapple Bitter Melon Soup:
The freshness of chicken, the slight sourness of pineapple and the bitterness of bitter melon are blended and balanced, giving the soup its own unique and delicious flavor.
Ingredients:
– Chicken (chest, wing, or thigh flesh)
– Bitter melon, pineapple, bone or chicken broth (or fresh water)
– Spices, salt, coriander
6. Pumpkin Soup:
Just after a few quick and simple steps, you will have a bowl of delicious and nutritious pumpkin soup for your whole family with the ingredients which are available in the summer.
Ingredients:
– Pumpkin
– Shrimp
– Shelled green bean
– Salt, fish sauce, sugar, pepper
– Finely chopped scallion
– Dried onion (purple onion)
7. Bronze Featherback Pie Mustard Greens Soup:
Bronze fratherback pie is chewy; the broth is fresh, cooked with mustard greens will not make people disappointed. This Vietnamese soup is really a delicious dish in the meal of many Vietnamese families.
Ingredients:
– Bronze featherback pie (or anabas filet)
– Mustard greens
– Cooking oil
– Chopped scallion
– Salt, pepper, fish sauce, and purple onion
8. Grinded Lean Meat Tofu Soup:
This soup is fragrant with fennel; the soup is fresh thanks to grinded lean meat, tomato, and tofu.
Ingredients:
– Grinded lean meat
– Tofu
– Tomato
– Fennel
– Salt, sauce, spices, and pepper
– Scallion
9. Anabas Mustard Greens Soup:
This is among rustic, simple to make, and delicious Vietnamese soup dishes which can provide your family members many nutrients, especially calcium.
Ingredients:
– Anabas filet (Currently, anabas filet is widely sold in many supermakets so it is very convenient)
– Mustard greens
– Ginger
– Rice vinegar
– Spices
10. Sour Clam Soup:
This is a cool choice for people in summer. The sourness of this soup helps you digest food better and also eat more rice. Sour clam soup is also made from rustic and simple to find ingredients, including:
Ingredients:
– Clam
– Tofu
– Pig bone broth or chicken broth
– Ripe tomato, fennel, scallion, purple onion
– Fish sauce, tamarind juice, sugar
11. Tofu Root Vegetables Soup:
This cool and fresh soup with many kinds of vegetables and tofu is very suitable to be served with rice in hot summer days.
Ingredients:
– Corn
– Chayote
– Carrot
– Broccoli
– Tofu
– Scallion, coriander
12. Squash Shrimp Meat Soup:
Your family meals will be very warm with this simple yet extremely delicious and nutritious Vietnamese soup, so give it a try!
Ingredients:
– Squash
– Carrot
– Milled lean meat
– Dried shrimp
– Spices
13. Turnip Shrimp Soup:
The turnip shrimp soup is one of the most delicious and nutritious Vietnamese soup dishes which will provide you and your family’s members a lot of essential vitamins and minerals.
Ingredients:
– Turnip
– Shrimp
– Spices
14. Gourd Mussel Soup:
This soup is very rustic yet very fresh and cool, suitable for hot summer days. The ingredients to make this soup are also very easy to find in any food store or supermarket.
Ingredients:
– Mussel (catched from rivers)
– Ground
– Scallion, fennel
15. Sour Water Spinach Tamarind Soup:
The special fragrance of the enydra fluctuans, the crunchiness of the bean sprouts, and the slight sourness of tamarind make the sour water spinach tamarind soup unforgettable!
Ingredients:
– Water spinach
– Tomato
– Sour tamarind
– Enydra fluctuans
– Scallion
– Spices
Side dishes for soup:
– Bean sprouts
16. Chayote Soup With Chicken:
Chayote is fresh, very suitable to be cooked with chicken. This is a simple Vietnamese soup dish which is very fast and easy to cook. It is also very nutritious and tastes wonderful. The ingredients used to cook this soup are available and easy to find in any food store or supermarket, so people should not concern about the material issue.
Ingredients:
– Chicken
– Chayote
– Goji
– Spices
– Ginger
17. Pumpkin Egg Tofu Soup:
This soup is very nutritious, providing people a lot of important and essential vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A. The ingredients of thish soup are also very simple.
Ingredients:
– Pumpkin
– Tofu
– Egg
– Scallion
– Spices
18. Seafood Squash Soup:
This warm soup with the sweet taste of shrimp, clams, and squash, will make you more palatable and give you more energy.
Ingredients:
– Fresh shrimp
– Mussels
– Clams
– Squash
– Onion
– Coriander
– Ginger
– Salt
– Pepper
19. Mussel Water Spinach Soup:
The mussel water spinach soup is the perfect combination the freshness and the crunchiness and aroma of the water spinach will definitely make your family happy.
Ingredients:
– Water Spinach
– Mussel
– Spices
20. Sour Fresh-Water Crab Soup:
When the middle of the reason comes, a bowl of hot sour fresh-water crab soup will make your family’s meals more delicious.
Ingredients:
– Fresh-water crab
– Milled lean meat
– Tofu
– Tomato, purple onion, scallion, dried tamarind paste
Side dishes for soup:
– Herbs and fresh veggies
21. Sour Fish Soup:
This is one of the most popular soups in Vietnam. This soup is popular in the North, the Central, and also the South, yet appears in different forms. (normally depending on the ingredients)
Ingredients:
– Carp
– Tomato
– Pickles
– Ginger
– Scallion, fennel, laksa leaves, chilli (optional)
– Spices: cooking oil, MSG
22. Sour Snakehead Soup:
Sour snakehead soup has been familiar to Vietnamese people for a long time, especially to people who live in the Southwest region. In hot noon, eating sour snackhead soup along with snackhead braised in terracotta pot (“Ca Kho To” in Vietnamese) will help to blow all of your bad feelings and tiredness far, far away. You can try making this delicious sour snackhead soup to make your family’s daily meals “richer” and more attractive, helping your family members blow the hot, tired summer days away.
Ingredients:
– Snackhead
– Pineapple
– Tomato
– Okra
– Colocasia gigantea
– Bean sprouts
– Ripe tamarind
– Fresh veggies, including scallion, enydra fluctuans
– Spices, dried onion, garlic, salt, MSG, sugar, chilli powder, pepper, fish sauce, cooking oil
23. Mixed Dried Pig’s Skin Soup:
This is a one the specific soup dishes of Hanoians. The cooking process of this dish is very picky so there are not many people have chance to taste this delicious dish.
Ingredients:
– Pig’s bone broth
– Milled lean meat
– Mushroom
– Dried pig’s skin
– Quail eggs
– Fresh shrimp
– White broccoli
– Kohlrabi
– Carrot
– Spices, salt, pepper
– Scallion
Side dishes for soup:
– Coriander
24. Portunidae Gourd Soup:
To the peasants and people living in the rural area, their family meals often contain dishes and ingredients depending on the seasons. The season of the sea portunidae is also the harvest time of the gourd. Gourd is often planted approximately 1 month before the season comes. When the very first gourd fruits appear, the season of sea portunidae also comes. When the gourd is big enough – when the middle of the gourd season comes – it is time for harvesting the gourds and cooking them with fresh portunidaes. The perfect combination of gourds and portunidaes make a fresh, delicious, and nutritious soup dish, carrying the “taste” of the sea. Just serve portunidae gourd soup with some crispy salted eggplants, and you are about to have a wonderful meal which are rustic yet tastes like a feast food tray. The portunidae gourd soup is very cheap and simple to cook, yet delicious and nutritios, helping people quickly recharge their energy in hot summer days.
Ingredients:
– Portunidae
– Gourd
– Ginger
– Scallion
– Spices
25. Bitter Melon Stuffed With Meat Soup:
Bitter melon stuffed with meat soup is a traditional Vietnamese soup, especially popular in holidays with the deep meaning – the hope that all of the challenges and tiredness will go away. In addition, this is really a super delicious and nutritious dish with the heat balancing and detoxifying effect, especially in hot summer days.
Ingredients:
– Bitter melon (you should pick up short bitter melons with big thorns for less bitterness)
– Lean meat
– Mushroom (or fungus)
– Meatless bone
– Scallion
– Coriander
– Chicken egg
– Chilli
– Spices, sugar, pepper, salt, dried, garlic, chilli powder
