Canh Bầu Nấu Tôm (Vietnamese Opo Squash and Shrimp Soup)
Author: Katie Le | Katie’s Test Kitchen
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb of shrimps (peeled, deveined, and chopped into little chunks) – To speed up prepping time, I’d purchase frozen peeled and deveined shrimps typically found in the frozen section of the non-Asian market. It only takes a few minutes to defrost these shrimps.
- 1 to 1.5 lbs of Opo Squash (peeled, chopped to large chunks, you may remove part of the core that has older/larger seeds)
- 5 cups of hot water
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of fish sauce; I used 3 Crabs brand.
- 1 tsp of mushroom seasoning
- 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper, more to garnish
- 1 tbsp of Quoc Viet Vegetarian Soup Base
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 green onion (smashed and minced white part; chopped green part to garnish)
Directions
- Combine shrimps, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of mushroom seasoning, 1/4 tsp of pepper, 1 tbsp of fish sauce, minced shallot and white part onion. Allow it marinate for 10-15 minutes.
- When ready to cook, bring 5 cups of water to a boil in your kettle. In your soup pot, on medium heat add cooking oil to cover bottom surface (about 1-2 tbsp). Once it’s hot add the marinated shrimps and saute until they are no longer pink. Pour in 5 cups of boiling water. Add 1 tbsp of Quoc Viet Vegetarian Soup Base and 1 tbsp of mushroom seasoning. Taste the both and adjust accordingly with extra seasonings. Once the broth comes to a boil add the chunks of Opo Squash. Continue to cook for 3-5 minutes or until the Opo Squash is translucent. Turn off heat and remove from pot.
- Garnish with chopped green onion and black pepper. This soup can be served with white rice and compliment perfectly with Caramelized Pork Belly with Quail Eggs as part of a traditional Vietnamese Family Dinner.
Amazing flavors. Know your squash cause I don’t but it’s so good! Keep posting recipes Katie #droolfaceemoji
Thanks Katie, this had me walking down memory lane of my mom’s cooking. It was so comforting and delicious. Your instructions are well written. Please continue to add more recipes! 🙂
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Hi Katie, can i get the opo at Lotte or 1st oriental? I went and didn’t find it. Any subs i can use?
Lotte and 1st Oriental typically have them. It might not be labeled “opo squash”… I can’t remember what they call them but I’ll check next time. You can replace with fuzzy squash “bi/” in Vietnamese.
Hey katie what if you dont have the vegetarian soup base can i use the chicken stock seasoning?
Yes! Should work. Put less and taste as you go.
Delicious! I have a lot of zucchini that I need to use up, and it worked perfectly as a substitute.
Katie, will I be able to make this using pork short ribs?
Yes, it would taste good too!