Winter Melon in Shrimp Broth - Canh Bi Dao Tom
Ingredients
- 1 winter melon, peeled & sliced into bite-size pieces
- 10 raw shrimps, shelled & deveined
- 4 shallots, chopped
- Vietnamese fish sauce to taste
- Freshly cracked white pepper to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp crushed dried red chili
- Water
- 2 Thai Bird’s Eye chili, left whole with slits
- Sea salt to taste
- Handful of culantro (ngo gai), finely shredded
- 2 scallions, finely sliced
Direction
Throw shrimp and some of the shallots into a mortar and crush into chunky pieces. Season with freshly cracked white pepper and fish sauce.
Place a soup pot over high heat and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. When oil is hot, throw in the remainder of the shallots and dried red chili. Toss until fragrant and put the shrimp in. Stir quickly and as soon as prawns turn pink, pour in the water. The amount of water will depend on the size of your melon and how watery you like the soup. Throw in the whole chilies. Bring water to a rolling boil and dump the sliced melon into the pot.
The melon is done when the flesh turns translucent. I take it off the burner as soon as the water returns to a rolling boil and allow it to finish cooking with the residual heat. Immediately adjust seasoning with more salt or fish sauce. Stir in culantro and scallion and serve steaming hot.
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