“My sister Điệp makes this beautiful soup on holidays like Tết, the Lunar New Year,” Cuong Pham, founder of cult- and chef-favorite Red Boat Fish Sauce writes in his cookbook of the same name, recently published by Harpers Collins. The lâu (or shrimp hot pot) combines a hearty dose of pork stock, shrimp paste stuffed into mushroom caps, and a variety of fresh vegetables for a dish that conveys abundance and celebration. “It truly is a soup you make on special occasions for loved family and friends,” Pham adds.
Lâu (Shrimp Hot Pot)
Ingredients
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound whole shrimp, peeled, deveined, and thoroughly dried with a paper towel
1 teaspoon Red Boat Fish Sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 eggs
Vegetable oil or butter, for greasing the pan
6 to 8 shiitake mushrooms, caps only
2 large carrots
1½ quarts Pork Stock
¼ head of a large cauliflower or ½ head of a small cauliflower, cut into florets
½ small napa cabbage, chopped
2 cups yu choy, bok choy, pea tendrils, or other leafy green, chopped into approximately 2-inch-long pieces
½ cup pork cracklings, broken into bite-size pieces
Directions
Make the shrimp paste
1. In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve the salt and baking soda in 2 cups water. Add the shrimp and let it sit in the brine in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes. Drain the shrimp, then dry between paper towels.
2. Add the shrimp, fish sauce, sugar, and garlic to a food processor. Process the shrimp to a smooth paste. Transfer the shrimp paste to a mixing bowl and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
Make and fill the omelets and mushrooms
3. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat well.
4. Heat a teaspoon of oil in an 8-inch sauté pan set over low heat. When the oil shimmers, ladle ¼ cup beaten egg into the pan. Gently tilt the pan to distribute the eggs into an even, thin omelet. Let the eggs cook undisturbed until set, about 1 minute. Turn the omelet onto a plate or cutting board. Repeat with the remainder of the beaten eggs.
5. Working with one omelet at a time, place about 3 tablespoons of the shrimp paste in the omelet’s center. Using a butter knife, spread the paste across the surface to create one thin, even layer, adding more shrimp paste if necessary. Tightly roll the omelet and set aside. Repeat with the remaining omelets.
6. Flip the mushroom caps over and spread about 1 tablespoon of the shrimp paste on the underside of each c ap.
7. Fill a pot fitted with a large steamer basket with about 2 inches of water and set over medium heat. When the water begins to boil, place the omelet rolls and mushroom caps in the steam basket, cover, and steam until the shrimp is completely cooked, about 10 minutes.
8. Remove the mushrooms and omelet rolls from the steamer basket, then carefully slice the omelets crosswise into ¼-inch pieces. Set aside.
Finish the soup
9. Discard the stem ends and tips of the carrots, then slice them lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick strips. Cut the strips into 1½-inch pieces.
Alternatively, create star-shaped slices: Working with one carrot at a time, hold a sharp knife at a 45-degree angle along the length of the carrot and make a cut about 1/8-inch deep. Angle the knife 45 degrees in the opposite direction of the first cut, and slice about 1/8 inch lengthwise down the carrot. Remove the resulting V-shaped wedge, then rotate the carrot 90 degrees and make the same two cuts. Repeat twice more around the carrot, then slice the carrot crosswise into ¼-inch pieces. Repeat for the second carrot. Set aside.
10. Heat the pork stock in a large pot set over medium heat. When the stock is at a strong simmer, add the carrots and cauliflower. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
11. Drop the napa leaves and leafy greens into the stock for 1 minute, or just long enough to warm them. Turn off the heat.
12. To serve, ladle the soup and vegetables into serving bowls. Top with the sliced omelet rolls, mushroom caps, and pork cracklings.
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