This is my favorite and go-to pickled okra recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/eve...

Of course there are numerous additions that you can toss in and everything varies depending upon personal taste.

I like hot and sour soup...in fact, I had some last week that I bought at a restaurant. But never had okra in it. @tinng321, do you use okra as substitute for some other ingredient in the soup?

James, thanks for the pickling recipe. I book-marked it in my Favorites menu. I also like the fresh pickle recipe that doesn't require hot canning.

Rainbow said:I like hot and sour soup...in fact, I had some last week that I bought at a restaurant. But never had okra in it. @tinng321, do you use okra as substitute for other ingredient in the soup?

James, thanks for the pickling recipe. I book-marked it in my Favorites menu. I also like the fresh pickle recipe that doesn't require hot canning.

Vietnamese people usually cook their hot & sour soup (canh chua) with fish, okra, bean sprouts, tomatoes, alocasia odora (bac ha) and other ingredients.

This is our version of hot and sour soup. Not the same as the one you get from a Chinese take out place.

JamesAcclaims said:This is my favorite and go-to pickled okra recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/eve...

Of course there are numerous additions that you can toss in and everything varies depending upon personal taste.

Ghost peppers. The hottest pepper in the world.



Papaya. Had 3 fruits last year.



Citrus Microcarpa

tinng321 said:
Vietnamese people usually cook their hot & sour soup (canh chua) with fish, okra, bean sprouts, tomatoes, alocasia odora (bac ha) and other ingredients.

This is our version of hot and sour soup. Not the same as the one you get from a Chinese take out place.

Looks delish...for me, I would rather have shrimp. I'm not that fond of fish.
Tinng, are you sure that it's Alocasia odora? As far as I know none of the parts of this elephant ear is edible. We have Colocasia esculenta (taro) and do eat the leaves after removing the toxins. The bulb/tuber is great simmered in coconut milk as well as in soups.

Rainbow said:

Looks delish...for me, I would rather have shrimp. I'm not that fond of fish.
Tinng, are you sure that it's Alocasia odora? As far as I know none of the parts of this elephant ear is edible. We have Colocasia esculenta (taro) and do eat the leaves after removing the toxins. The bulb/tuber is great simmered in coconut milk as well as in soups.

I know it's called bac ha in Vietnamese. It's in the same family as taro but not taro. This plant doesn't have any toxin. You can substitute shrimps for fish. However, we usually cook shrimps with water spinach in a different version of hot and sour soup.

Rainbow said:We have Colocasia esculenta (taro) and do eat the leaves after removing the toxins. The bulb/tuber is great simmered in coconut milk as well as in soups.

Oh, you islanders

Eating things that I would never think of eating.

I LOVE fish! Also, I would be more than okay with shrimp in there. It does look delicious.

I just look it up. Some say it's Colocasia Esculenta. Some say it's Colocasia Gigiantea. It's probably the same plant you are referring to.

tinng321 said:...water spinach in a different version of hot and sour soup.

What is water spinach?! I love spinach. Is there a different version of spinach that I have never had and need in my life? What does it taste like?

tinng321 said:
I know it's called bac ha in Vietnamese. It's in the same family as taro but not taro. This plant doesn't have any toxin. You can substitute shrimps for fish. However, we usually cook shrimps with water spinach in a different version of hot and sour soup.

Ahah! Just like us here...we will put almost the same ingredients together as another kind of dish...but the addition/subtraction of certain ingredients and/or spices gives the dish another name!

We don't eat the leaves. We only eat the stem. We use it to make shrimp salad too.

This is water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica).

I think water spinach is another name for kangkung, Ipomoea aquatic. Wonderful vegi!

Tinng, we cross-posted!

From my garden.

Water spinach


Elephant ears.


Bitter melons



Lemon grass.

what does water spinach taste like? Did not know you could eat elephant ear? I get frustrated my only Asian market is a little over an hour a way.
I may have tried bitter melon but I am not sure. When I look at some of the Adenium sellers on FB they show a lot of family meals. Makes me hungery. When I lived in the bay Area near San Francisco I could eat internationally I miss that.

crystalview said:what does water spinach taste like? Did not know you could eat elephant ear? I get frustrated my only Asian market is a little over an hour a way.
I may have tried bitter melon but I am not sure. When I look at some of the Adenium sellers on FB they show a lot of family meals. Makes me hungery. When I lived in the bay Area near San Francisco I could eat internationally I miss that.

I call them elephant ears because they look like the elephant ears you see at Home Depot or Lowe's. They are not the same.

Water spinach has no flavor. I usually stir fry them with garlic or shrimp paste. I also use them in hot n sour soup (shrimp version) and bun bo hue (Vietnamese spicy beef soup). Thai and Malaysian also eat water spinach. If you visit a Thai or Malaysian restaurant I'm sure they have it stir fry with shrimp paste on their menu.

I think bitter melon is good for your health.
I cook it with ribs, stir fry with egg or beef or make shrimp salad.

Kangkung is even milder than spinach in flavor, so it does not compete with other flavors in stir fry or soup. Please don't eat just any ole elephant ear!

We have international here. But for the real authentic preparations one must go to a pricy restaurant to get it. We used to go to a Chinese family restaurant for many years that had really delicious food and were cheap. Slowly but surely they started cutting corners and the dishes are not all that good any more.