Canh Khoai Mon is Vietnamese taro soup.  This simple soup is one of my many favorite homestyle comfort food that mama used to cook and now my kids love to eat it too.  I’ve been documenting this pictorial several times now and finally got the seasoning down just right to help me maintain a consistent taste from now on. This soup is commonly serve with rice.

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 30 minutes
• Serving: 4-quart pot

Ingredients:

• 6-8 taro roots (khoai mon) about 2.5 lb
• 1 bunch culantro about 1.5 cup chopped
• 1 can Swanson’s 14-oz chicken broth (“33% less sodium”) or use chicken bone or pork bone broth
• 2 quart water
• 1 Tbsp oil

For the shrimp and pork paste: 

• 1/4 lb ground pork butt
• 1/3 lb shrimp (about 6 oz)
• 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp Viet Huong fish sauce
• 1/4 tsp corn starch
• 1/2 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Wash the taros, peel it, and soak it in a bowl of water.  Cut it into chunky pieces. Rinse taro again.

2.  Wash and cut the culantro. My purchased one bunch of culantro gave me about 1.5 cup chopped.

3.  Shelled and deveined this shrimp. Then use the side of a cleaver to smash the shrimp.  My mom would say not to chop the shrimp, but smashing the shrimp helps the shrimp to blend in and “hold the paste” together better.

4.  Make the shrimp and pork paste. In a mixing bowl, combine the grind pork butt, smashed shrimp, minced garlic, black pepper, salt, sugar, fish sauce, cornstarch and water together.  Mix it up well.

Get ready to cook!

5.  Set timer to 30 minutes. (I have a GE Spectra stove.)  Heat up about 1 Tbsp or less of oil on high heat.  Toss in the shrimp and pork paste.  Stir well for about 2 minutes. Quickly add in the water and broth.  I normally would use my frozen pork bone broth but would use Swanson’s less sodium chicken broth when I don’t have bone broth handy.  Close pot with a lid until the broth starts to boil which took about 8 minutes for me.

6.  When broth starts to boil, remove lid, and add in the taro. Turn heat to medium high (#7 setting) and cook until the taro is soft.  This part took about another 15 minutes.

7.  When taro is semi soft, add in the chopped culantro.  Stir and remove the pot from the heat source.  Serve this taro soup with rice or alone.  My daughter and baby loves this soup. I hope you enjoy it too!