Napa cabbage and shrimp soup

Yes, I do occasionally cook some super simple dishes, and this soup is exactly what you need on a cold, lazy day without any effort. A light Vietnamese soup with delicate, divine flavors, it warms the soul. I love Vietnamese cuisine. This distinct cuisine spans the spectrum from delicate, like this soup and pho, to deep flavours, like clay pot catfish. I have quite a few Vietnamese cookbooks on my bookshelf, but I definitely don’t cook from them often enough. I used extra-large shrimp and was very happy with them in this soup. I also prefer the Napa cabbage with a touch of crunch, so I added it last rather than earlier on. The light broth, the crunchy greens, and the tender shrimp are perfect together. I love this cookbook. It has quite a few of the usual recipes, as well as many others, all of which I cannot wait to try. This is an excellent cookbook for an introduction to this beautiful culture.

For more recipes from this cookbook click here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon neutral oil

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 heaping tablespoon dried shrimp, rinsed under hot water and chopped (optional)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fish sauce

6 cups water

3 cups firmly packed thinly sliced napa cabbage (1/4-inch wide ribbons)

1/2 pound large or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 scallion, green part only, thinly sliced

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes or until fragrant and soft. Do not brown the onions. Add the dried shrimp, using salt and fish sauce, and cook for about 30 seconds to develop the flavours. Add the water, raise the heat to high, and boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. If you are not serving the soup immediately, turn off the heat and cover.

Just before serving, return the soup to a simmer. Drop in the shrimp. When the shrimp has turned pink and curled, for 4-6 minutes, depending on size, add the pepper. Taste and add extra salt or fish sauce, if necessary. Add the cabbage and simmer for 30 seconds. Ladle into a serving bowl and garnish with the scallion. Serve immediately.