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Tofu and Garlic Chive Soup – Canh Đậu Hũ Hẹ Chay

July 31, 2023 by Lisa Le 5 Comments

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Canh Đậu Hũ Hẹ chay is a Vietnamese homestyle soup that is comforting, light and savoury. Flat chives, shallots, and garlic are the main undertones of flavour for this tofu and garlic chive soup!

vietnamese tofu and flat chive soup in a ladle

Growing up, I ate a lot of Vietnamese style dinners where each meal had a protein, a soup, and a veggie component to be eaten with rice. Growing up, this kind of soup would typically have been accompanied with a fried fish, and maybe some blanched greens to eat with fermented bean curd.

Traditionally this soup is made with ground pork, but I’ve used a vegan pork mince instead. It can be omitted!

What’s the difference between Flat Chives, Regular Chives and Green Onion?

Flat chives are called hẹ in Vietnamese, and my family often would just use these interchangeably with green onion. Especially for recipes that call for green onion oil. They have a distinct, spicy garlic flavour, whereas I find round chives have a lighter oniony flavour. When cooked, all of them have a mellower flavour, which is perfect for this soup!

Slightly related, green onions have a spicy grassy flavour. I love all these alliums, and each have their own places in recipes. This tofu and flat chive soup would not be the same with scallion or regular chives in its place.

What kind of tofu to use for this soup?

I’ve used any and all kind of tofu for this, soft, medium, firm, it all would work! It depends on what you like. The kind of tofu I get is “firm” but it isn’t that firm in Western standards of tofu. It holds its shape well in soup and becomes light and breaks apart easily when you bite into it.

vegan fish sauce bottle with other bottles of seasonings in the background

Where do you find vegan fish sauce?

I usually get my vegan fish sauce from Coven (in Hamilton or Waterloo), and sometimes from Vietnamese restaurants or grocers. It has a distinct, funky flavour that is hard to replicate. If you don’t have any, you could try substituting with some seaweed, MSG, and more mushroom broth powder to give the broth that fishy base.

vietnamese tofu and flat chive soup in a ladle
Print Recipe

Tofu and Garlic Flat Chive Soup – Canh Dau Hu He

Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Total Time45 minutes mins
Servings: 4 -6 servings
Author: Lisa Le

Ingredients

  • 1 15 mL tbsp oil
  • 2 shallots or cooking onion, minced
  • 10 oz 283 g vegan pork mince
  • 2 tbsp 30 mL vegan fish sauce, divided
  • 1/4 tsp ground white pepper use more if you like it spicier
  • 1 tsp 5 mL white sugar
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 8 cups 2 L water
  • 1 lb 454 g firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 tbsp 15 mL mushroom broth powder
  • 2 cups chopped flat chives chop to either 1/4 or 1 inch in length, whatever you prefer!

To serve

  • Steamed Jasmine rice

Instructions

  • In a large pot, heat 1 tbsp oil with minced shallots. Saute to cook through until they look "melted" and glossy.
  • Add the vegan pork mince and season with 1 tbsp vegan fish sauce, white pepper, and sugar. Stir fry to brown lightly until cooked through.
  • Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and saute to cook, about 30 seconds.
  • Add 8 cups water, season with mushroom broth powder and vegan fish sauce and bring to a boil.
  • Add the tofu cubes and chopped flat chives, then cook until the chives cook through and no longer all float to the top.
  • Serve with steamed rice!
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Filed Under: Vegan recipes Tagged With: canh, canh dau hu he, flat chive soup, tofu chive soup, tofu soup, vegan

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Danielle Albano says

    September 12, 2024 at 8:40 PM

    Hi Lisa, where do you get your vegan pork from? I live in Boise, Idaho, and unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of vegan and/or Asian products. Thank you, Danielle

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      September 23, 2024 at 9:35 AM

      I used Omnipork for this! It’s been hard to find lately, but I find it at Coven (specialty vegan store in my city) or at Sobeys

      Reply
    • Jonathan says

      November 18, 2024 at 8:38 PM

      You can try your local Whole Foods or Sprouts. I know they carry OmniPork, but it’ll depend on the location if they have pork crumbles.

      Reply
  2. Jonathan says

    November 18, 2024 at 8:30 PM

    What kind of vegan fish sauce do you use?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      November 19, 2024 at 10:39 AM

      I use the Au Lac one!

      Reply

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