Vietnamese Soup

Have you ever watched Diary of a Foodie? It was created by Gourmet magazine so there will be no more episodes. I think it was on PBS, but you can download the shows for free through iTunes (thanks!). Each episode is 25 minutes and usually focused on food from a specific country. It's really well done and interesting. When I went to Morocco we saw oil being produced and I already knew about the entire process due to the Morocco episode of Diary of a Foodie.

Anyhow, they featured a chicken pineapple soup in the Vietnam episode which looked really good. I modified it to omit the chicken. S & I both really liked this; it's sweet but savory and refreshing. Smoked tofu would be really good with this. I intended to use tofu, but the store shelves were empty, so I used chickpeas.

Recipe (modified from Diary of a Foodie)

1 pineapple or 2 cans of sliced pineapple

Water

1 can chickpeas, rinsed

Vegetable oil

2 Thai chiles (more to taste)

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1/4 cup fish sauce (omit if you want this to be veggie or vegan)

1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms

2 carrots, chopped

2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes, or 1 can

1 - 1.5 cups bean sprouts

Blend pineapple in a blender or food processor until smooth, adding water along the way. You can strain the mixture at this point to create a smooth broth, but I didn't, opting for a chunky broth.

Heat oil in a soup pot on medium high and add garlic and chiles. 

Add the fish sauce to the garlic and chiles and reduce by half (about 3 minutes). Add mushrooms and carrots and satuee until the mushrooms release their liquid.

Add the pineapple broth and bring to a boil. Stir in tomatoes, chick peas and bean sprouts. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about ten minutes.