Chicken-Eggplant Soup

This recipe is from the North of Vietnam and is popular as the Hu tieu from the South of Vietnam. My mom made this recipe all the time when I am growing up. In her kitchen, "me" is the fermented rice is one of the ingredients to create authentic "Ca Bung". However, living in America the fermented rice is not what I like to consume. I do not want to create the authentic Ca bung the way my mother did, because I like to use chicken breasts instead of pork ribs or bacon. I like to stick with my healthy diet so this recipe is made me so proud and happy to share it in my blog. The herb perilla is a very important to have in this dish and cannot be replaced with other herbs. I visited my sister in California last week and took some perilla home from her garden. This childhood dish is alive with some of new modifications.

Ingredients:
1 medium Eggplant, cubed
1 chicken breast, cubed
2 cups chicken broth
2 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tamarind juice or lemon juice
1 tsp turmeric
3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 cup chopped perilla

 

Fish sauce, salt, pepper
2 tbs oil
Garnish with sliced green onions
Serve with rice noodles, rice

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium pot. Add shallots and garlic. Stir to cook until fragrant.

Add chicken and brown the chicken for 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and turmeric.

Cook tomatoes for 2 minutes and then add eggplant.

Add broth and season the soup with fish sauce, salt, sugar, and black pepper.
Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken and eggplant are tender,
Add perilla herbs and green onions.

If served with noodles, place noodles on the bottom of the bowl and top with ca bung.

If served with rice, have a bowl of rice on the side with ca bung.

 

Adjust the sourness to your taste. Enjoy!!