To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, the WAC content team talked with Guy Huynh, Vice President of Software Architecture at Wild Alaskan Company. He's also a chef! Guy shared one of his favorite Vietnamese dishes from his youth, Vietnamese sour soup.
"Canh chua is a staple in Vietnamese households. It literally means sour soup and it brings together something spicy and something sweet at the same time," explained Guy. "It’s usually made with a white fish or shrimp."
Guy's recipe for Vietnamese sour soup is made with a medley of wild-caught seafood, including spot prawns, rockfish, and coho salmon. It also contains a few subsitutions that can help make the recipe accessible to anyone, anywhere.
For instance, Vietnamese sour soup is traditionally made with tamarind as a soup base, giving it it's signature sweet-sour flavor profile. "I've come to discover that lemon or lime and a splash of apple cider vinegar makes for a fine substitute, when dried tamarind is not available," said Guy.
Other special ingredients also include bac ha which is the stem of a plant related to taro. You might be able to find this in specialty Asian markets but if not, celery stalks are a good substitute. "We'll also try to find a Vietnamese herb called ngo om, but if that's not available, some Thai basil will do."
Read more about Guy in a recent Q&A where he shares what it was like to hone his cooking chops in culinary school before learning traditional Vietnamese flavors in his mom’s kitchen.
