Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup

"Holy sh*t!"

Pardon my French but that was my honest reaction when I tasted this. I was dying to have the vegetable soup from World Resource Cafe on Lincoln Road, which closed down over a year ago & I couldn't seem to find any other restaurant that had a vegetarian soup with that exact taste. On this occasion I set out to recreate it myself. The sweet, sour and hot flavors are incredibly satisfying. The best part about this recipe is that it took hardly any time at all. Whether or not this soup would be considered Vietnamese, Thai or whatever, I'm really not sure, but the most similar recipe I found called it Vietnamese.

Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup

Yield: 6-8 servings

• 1 1/4 quarts (5 cups) water
• 1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth                                   
• 1 tsp ground peppercorn
• 2 tsp sea salt                                   
• 7 tsp Thai Tom Yum powdered soup mix (found at an Asian grocery store, although you may be able to find in the ethnic food section of a regular grocery store, I haven't looked)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp lemon grass paste (found in a tube  next to the fresh herbs in the produce section) 
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 20-oz can pineapple chunks, with syrup
• 1 8-oz package bean sprouts
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped into about 1" square pieces
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced 
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tsp tamarind paste concentrate* (My mom picked it up for me at an Indian grocery store. Can likely be found at an Asian grocery store as well; if you use the powder I believe you are supposed to triple the amount, but do some trial and error)
  
  

  

1. In a stock pot, bring water, broth, salt and pepper to a boil.
2. Add in tom yum mix, carrots, garlic, onions and lemon grass and boil over med-high heat until tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, pineapple chunks with syrup and tamarind paste and boil until pineapple is heated through and tomatoes begin to float to the surface, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir in green onions and bean sprouts (do not overcook, they should be crisp) and boil for about 1 minute longer.
5. Remove from heat and serve.
   
   Leftovers reheated nicely on the stove. 
   
   

   

   
   
   
   *Tamarind has a tart & sweet flavor. I've seen a couple suggested substitutes for tamarind which include: 1 1/2 Tbsp amchoor powder (another Indian spice) for every 1 Tbsp tamarind paste; and, lemon or lime juice with a little bit of brown sugar.
   
   Nutrition facts per serving (6 servings): 153 cals, 28g carbs, 3g fat, 3g protein.