Freestyle Vietnamese crab soup

Vietnamese version (bản tiếng Việt): click here!
Vegan version: click here!

Vietnamese crab soup – A snack and an appetizer

One of my savory dishes of all time is Vietnamese-style crab soup. The soup can be found anywhere in Vietnam, in fancy restaurants, local stalls, or even in a food cart in front of the school gate. I still remember having soup as snack after school time or while waiting for my mom to finish her work. There was time that I had soup literally every day: when I had my wisdom tooth extracted. That was when I had chance to taste soups from different stores/stalls/carts, and I realized that the good soup did not necessarily come from a restaurant. It doesn’t need any high-class ingredients, just fresh basic ingredients could also make it stand out. And it’s so simple that any of us can make it delicious to our own style.

What can be in the ingredients?

Chicken, crabs, shrimps, scallops, mushrooms and vegetables (corn, carrots, beans…) are great for this recipe. On the other hand, beef and pork are not suitable.

The broth would elevate the taste and flavor of the soup. For a meat version, chicken stock is usually used. If you want to make your own chicken stock, use bone-in chicken thighs for simplicity. just boil ~ 1lb of bone-in chicken thighs (together with chicken tenders if you want to make chicken soup) in 1 L of water on medium heat until the chicken is fully cooked (~ 20 minutes). Make sure to remove the scums so that you can have a clear stock. Remove the chicken, de-bone, shred the meat then add the shredded meat back to the pot. You can use the pressure cooker to save time and increase the quality of the stock. Do not use chicken wings or drumsticks as it doesn’t add much flavor to the stock. If you can’t have the chicken stock, it’s fine to just use water but the final taste will be not as flavorful.

For vegetarian/vegan version, use vegetable stock and lots of mushroom instead. portobello mushroom, enoki mushroom, white mushroom and oyster mushroom are what I have tried so far and they are awesome.

Veggies are optional, they are here to add the sweetness to the broth and color to the dish. Julienne carrots are preferred because the texture is consistent but as it’s a PhD-style soup and I have a lot of chopped carrots in the fridge so I just use them anyway. Skip the veggies if you don’t want.

Without further ado, let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients (for 6-8 servings)

• Chicken stock: 32 oz (~ 1 L)
  (You can buy it from grocery stores or make it yourself from boiling bone-in chicken)
• Canned crabs: 8 oz (~ 230g)
  (I use 01 can of Private Selection® claw crab meat from Frys – my local grocery store)
• Portobello mushroom: 1 whole mush room
  (Can use any types of mushroom)
• Carrots and beans: 8 oz (optional)
  (I use 1/2 of the frozen Kroger® Meal-Ready Sides Peas & Carrots and Bean as they are already peeled and chopped)
• Cut corn: 3 oz (optional)
  (I use 1/4 of the Kroger® Traditional Favorites Super Sweet Corn)
• Tapioca starch: 3/4 cup (~ 85 g) (can adjust to taste)
• Eggs: 2 whole eggs
• Seasoning powder: 3 tablespoons (can adjust to taste)
  (I use the mushroom bouillon which can be found in any Asian supermarkets)
• Black/white pepper, cilantro, soy sauce and sesame oil when serving

Preparation:

• Wash, dry and thin-sliced the mushroom into short pieces (about 1 inch in length).
• Combine the chicken stock (store-bought or homemade) with 1 L of water and bring them to boil on medium-high heat.
• Once boiling, add the crab meat and all the vegetables to the stock then bring to boil again.
• Add the mushroom and reduce the heat to medium. Mushroom should be added last to prevent discoloring of the broth (and the mushroom).
• Once it boils again after adding mushroom, season the soup with the granulated mushroom bouillon (OR 2 tablespoons of salt + 1 tablespoon of sugar as alternatives)
• Mix the tapioca starch with water (~ 1/2 to 3/4 cup, just enough to dissolve the tapioca flour) and add the mixture to the boiling soup with constant stirring until the soup is thickened. You can adjust the amount of tapioca starch so that the soup is thickened as you want. Here, I prefer dense soups so I add a little more of tapioca flour.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and wait for a gentle boil.
• Beat the eggs till homogenized then slowly add to the thickened and boiling soup with constant stirring in the same direction when stirring in the tapioca flour-water mixture. That’s how you create patterns for your soup. Turn off the heat once it gently boils again.
• Serve hot with fresh cilantro, black/white pepper, sesame oil (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon up to taste) and sate chili for spicy taste (optional).

Total time: 1 hour (beware that it would require more time if you use fresh carrots and/or shred the chicken meat)

Notes:

• Seasoning and tapioca starch can be flexible to suit one’s taste. You can add a pinch of salt in the tapioca-water mixture and the beaten eggs to maintain the taste of the final soup.
• Make sure to stir the soup constantly when adding tapioca, otherwise it will burn.
• If the final taste is still light, add soy sauce to the soup when serving. Do NOT season the soup again after adding tapioca and eggs.