Description
A light and bright fresh soup, with traditional sweet and sour Filipino flavors.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Tablespoon neutral oil
- ½ large onion cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 2-inch piece fresh ginger (about 1 oz.), peeled and lightly smashed
- 4 cloves large garlic lightly smashed
- 3 cups chicken broth (use low salt if store bought)
- 4 oz tamarind concentrate
- 2 Tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 chinese eggplant cut in half lengthwise and then thinly sliced
- 1 medium tomato cut in half, seeded, and diced into medium cubes
- 4 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ½ pound large shrimp (21/25 size), peeled and deveined
- 5 oz baby spinach
Garnish:
Lemon wedges
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, ginger, and garlic and cook until they soften and are aromatic, about 3 minutes. Take care to keep the aromatics from burning by lowering the heat if necessary.
- Add the chicken broth, tamarind concentrate, fish sauce and light brown sugar and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat so that the broth simmers gently for 15 minutes.
- Add the eggplant and green beans and simmer for 3-4 mins.
- Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for another 2 mins. and then add the vinegar and shrimp and simmer until the shrimp is just cooked through 1-2 mins.
- Add the spinach, taste the soup and adjust seasoning (add fish sauce or salt if needed).
- Serve the soup immediately with lemon wedges on the side for friends to add as they like. (Make sure to fish out the ginger before serving.)