Discover 5 refreshing ways to cook deliciously authentic sour soup – Mytour

Sour soup has long been a favored dish in every Vietnamese household. Whether enjoyed in winter for its comforting warmth or in summer for its cooling effect, sour soup offers both flavor and freshness. Explore these tantalizing recipes for the perfect sour soup experience brought to you by Mytour.

Introducing the sour soup specialty

Sour soup is a culinary delight enjoyed by the majority of Vietnamese people. Not only is it aromatic and refreshing, but it also pairs well with a variety of ingredients such as snakehead fish, minced meat, or clams. Additionally, sour soup offers numerous health benefits including quenching thirst and cooling the body down.

A bowl of sour soup will elevate your meal, adding an enticing and exotic touch. Particularly, the sourness of the soup will enhance your appetite, allowing you to enjoy your rice without feeling overwhelmed. In the summer, sour soup helps you cool down and detoxify your body, while in the winter, it provides energy and refreshes your palate. Sour soup can be made from various ingredients, but for the most delicious and nutritious version, follow Mytour's suggestions.

Photo: @wokandkin

2. How to cook sour soup with snakehead fish

With just a few simple steps, you can prepare a pot of perfectly delicious and refreshing sour soup for your family.

Ingredients Preparation

• Snakehead fish: 0.5kg
• 3 stalks of corn
• Half a fragrant pineapple
• 2 tomatoes
• 120g tamarind juice
• 20g minced garlic, 20g coriander
• Seasonings: seasoning powder, salt, sugar, fish sauce, cooking oil

Processing Steps

Step 1: Prepare the Ingredients

After purchasing snakehead fish, scale and gut them. Then, use vinegar or salt to clean both the inside and outside of the fish.

Next, use a knife along the belly line of the fish to remove the bloodline, which will help reduce the fishy taste. Then, cut the fish into slices about 1cm thick.

Photo: Collected

Cut the tomatoes into wedges, remove the ends of the corn, and slice them diagonally into bite-sized pieces. Cut the pineapple into small, bite-sized chunks, and chop the coriander into 2cm sections to sprinkle on top of the soup bowl.

Step 2: Cooking

First, heat a pan on the stove, add about 5 tablespoons of cooking oil, and wait for the oil to heat up. Then, add a bit of minced garlic and fry until fragrant. Afterward, remove the garlic and use the remaining oil to fry the fish. Note to only fry the fish briefly to remove the fishy smell, do not overcook. Flip the fish a couple of times, then remove from the pan.

Photo: Collected

Next, add 20g of cooking oil and 15g of minced garlic to the pot for cooking the soup, then fry until fragrant. Once the garlic is fragrant, pour in 1.5L of filtered water and bring to a boil.

Once the water boils, add the fried snakehead fish and spices to the pot in the following proportions: 15g seasoning powder, 15g fish sauce, 6g salt, 80g sugar, 120g tamarind juice. Continue to simmer for about 10 more minutes until the fish is cooked, then remove the fish into a bowl. Next, add the tomatoes, corn, and pineapple to the pot and wait for it to boil again before turning off the heat.

Finished Product

You can sprinkle some coriander on top of the soup to make it more visually appealing. Sour snakehead fish soup with its sweet and sour flavor combined with various vegetables is not only good for health but also easy to eat. Surely, this will be a dish that will make you eat more rice.

Photo: @annie_eatsfood

3. How to Cook Pineapple Sour Soup with Minced Meat

Pineapple sour soup with minced meat and tomatoes is made with simple ingredients that are easy to prepare and delicious to eat. It only takes about 15 minutes to cook this fragrant and tasty soup.

Ingredients Preparation

• 0.5kg minced meat
• Half a fragrant pineapple
• 2 tomatoes
• 120g tamarind juice
• Seasonings: salt, sugar, seasoning powder, fish sauce

Processing Steps

Step 1: Prepare Ingredients

After purchasing minced meat, rinse it in boiling water and skim off any foam to remove impurities. Cut the tomatoes into wedges and the pineapple into small triangular pieces.

Photo: Collected

Step 2: Cooking

First, add about 1.5L of water, 120g tamarind juice, and the minced meat to the pot. Then, add the seasonings in the following proportions: 1 tablespoon of seasoning powder, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce.

Photo: Collected

Next, add the pineapple and cook until it's slightly tender, then add the tomatoes. Wait for the soup to boil again, and it's done.

Finished Product after Processing

Sour soup with minced meat will definitely be a refreshing change, preventing you from getting tired of eating sour soup with various types of fish. What could be better than enjoying a bowl of sour soup with minced meat on hot summer days, right?

Photo: Collected

4. How to Cook Sour Soup with Minced Clams

Clams are known to be a nutritious food, beneficial for health, so they are chosen by many mothers to cook for their families. Let's see how to make it.

Ingredients Preparation

• 1kg clams
• 200g minced meat
• 1/3 pineapple
• 2 tomatoes
• 30g spring onions
• 1/2 bunch coriander
• 1 dry onion
• Seasonings: vinegar, salt.

Processing Steps

Step 1: Prepare Ingredients

First, pour water into a pot to boil the clams, ensuring they are submerged. When the water boils, stir well to make the clams open their mouths, then use the clam broth to cook the soup immediately. Then, separate the clam guts into a bowl.

Photo: @tam.t.le

Cut the tomatoes lengthwise and the pineapple into small triangular pieces, while the spring onions and coriander are cut into 0.5cm long pieces. Thinly slice the dry onion and slice the star fruit into thin slices about 0.2 – 0.3cm thick.

Step 2: Cooking

Stir-fry the minced meat to release its fragrance, you can add some seasoning to enhance the flavor of the meat.

Heat a pan on the stove, add a little cooking oil, wait for the oil to heat up, then add the thinly sliced dry onion and fry until fragrant. Next, add the clams and tomatoes, stir-fry together, add an extra tablespoon of salt for a richer flavor.

Photo: @candynguyen0110

Next, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar along with the prepared pineapple into the pot of clam broth from earlier. Then, add the stir-fried clams and tomatoes, and bring to a boil for about 2 – 3 minutes. Then add the cooked minced meat. Finally, add the spring onions and coriander into the pot and turn off the heat.

Finished Product

Clam sour soup has a sweet taste from the meat and clam broth, the gentle sourness from the pineapple and vinegar helps to dispel the summer heat. The sour and fragrant clam soup is especially delicious when eaten with rice.

Photo: @tam.t.le

5. Sour Soup with Water Spinach and Meat

On hot sunny days, there's nothing better than enjoying a bowl of sour soup with water spinach and meat. In just under 30 minutes, you and your family can indulge in this incredibly delicious soup together.

Ingredients Preparation

• Minced meat: 300g
• Water spinach: 5 – 7 leaves
• Spring onions: 5 stalks
• Tomatoes: 2 fruits
• Water spinach stems: 2 handfuls
• Tamarind: 2 fruits
• Seasonings: Fish sauce, soup powder, salt

Processing Steps

Step 1: Prepare Ingredients

Clean the tomatoes and cut into wedges, halve the tamarinds after cleaning, slice the water spinach stems into 1 – 2mm pieces. Wash the water spinach thoroughly, remove the outer skin, and slice diagonally into thin slices.

Photo: Collected

Next, mix the water spinach with salt and use your hands to squeeze to reduce the itchiness of the water spinach. Then, rinse the water spinach thoroughly with water and drain.

Step 2: Cooking

First, heat a pot on the stove, add enough cooking oil, when the oil is hot, add some of the chopped spring onions and fry until fragrant. Next, add the minced meat and stir-fry until the meat is medium rare and firm. Then, add a tablespoon of fish sauce and continue to stir for about 1 minute to evenly absorb the fish sauce.

Photo: Collected

Then, add the prepared tomatoes and tamarind into the pot and stir. When the tomatoes are softened, add about 2 bowls of water and half a tablespoon of soup powder, stir well and wait for it to boil. When the soup boils for about 5 minutes, add the water spinach and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.

Finished Product

After ladling the soup into a bowl, you can sprinkle some spring onions and water spinach on top of the soup to make it look more attractive and appealing. Sour soup with water spinach and tamarind with the crunchy water spinach leaves will surely leave a lasting impression on you.

Photo: Collected

• Explore more: Best Winter Soup Recipes Compilation

6. Sour Soup with Minced Meat and Bamboo Shoots

In just 20 minutes, you can treat your family to a delicious sour soup with minced meat and bamboo shoots, with the sour taste of bamboo shoots complementing the rich flavor of minced meat.

Ingredients

• Minced meat: 300g
• Dried shallots: 1 bulb
• Tomatoes: 2 pieces
• Bamboo shoots: 5 fruits
• Seasonings: bouillon, fish sauce

Preparation Steps

Step 1: Preparing Ingredients

Clean the tomatoes and slice them thinly. If possible, remove the thin outer skin layer. Slice the dried shallots thinly and peel the bamboo shoots. Rinse the pork through clean water 2-3 times then mince it finely. Alternatively, you can purchase ground pork from the store.

Image: Collected

Step 2: Cooking

Heat a pot on the stove, add a bit of cooking oil, and wait for it to heat up. Once the oil is hot, add the prepared dried shallots and sauté until fragrant. After the shallots are fragrant, add the tomatoes and stir until they soften. Then, add the minced meat and continue stirring.

Image: Collected

When the meat has firmed up, add 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, then stir for about 1 minute to let the ingredients absorb the seasoning. Next, add the bamboo shoots and stir for another minute. Finally, add about 1 liter of water, wait for it to boil, then add 1 tablespoon of seasoning powder and stir well before turning off the heat.

Final Product

Sour soup with minced meat and bamboo shoots, with the sourness from tomatoes and bamboo shoots combined with the natural sweetness of minced meat, will surely stimulate your taste buds from the first bite. This dish is best enjoyed hot, especially in the summer.

Image: Collected

7. Tips for Delicious Sour Soup

• For snakehead fish, choose wild-caught ones for better taste and firmer flesh.
• When selecting pineapples, opt for firm ones that are not too ripe to prevent them from becoming mushy when cooking.
• For meat, choose pieces that are fresh, uniformly red, and have good elasticity.

With these 3 ways to cook sour soup, hopefully, mothers won't have to worry about what to cook today. Wishing you and your family a delicious meal.

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