Vietnamese Chayote Soup with Shrimp

Don't you love those recipes that take less than 30 minutes to make? Well this one actually takes less than 15 minutes to make and that's chayote soup with shrimp. Start off by deveining your shrimp and then smashing it and then chopping it. You want to make sure you do it in that order because if you were to chop it and then smash it you'll get tiny little bits of shrimp and they don't clump together like you would if you were to then smash it before you chop it. Prepare your marinade ingredients by chopping a tablespoon of green onions and then add it to your shrimp and then season it with kosher salt, sugar, mushroom powder, black pepper, fish sauce. Then you're going to want to mix it all together and then set this aside while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. Chop up your aromatics which consists of two tablespoons of shallot, a tablespoon of chopped garlic. Notice that a lot of Vietnamese cooking calls for shallots instead of regular onions and the reason being is because shallots are a lot milder in flavor and it's a bit sweeter. Now for the star of the show is chayote. You're going to want to peel the chayote then remove the seed and then cut them into a quarter inch strips. What I love about chayote is that it's a great substitute for potatoes so if any of your recipes call for potatoes why not substitute it with chayote. Then in a small pot add oil. I always like to use avocado oil. Then add your aromatics which are the shallots and the garlic. You want to use medium high heat. Then add chayote with a sprinkle of salt and stir fry this for one minute. Now add the rest of your broth ingredients which consist of two quarts of water. Season it with kosher salt, fish sauce, and mushroom powder. Bring it to a boil and then remove the scum as needed. Once the water is boiling scoop in the minced shrimp one tablespoon at a time and drop them into the pot like dumplings. Make sure to get all the marinade into the pot. You'll know when the shrimp is done when they start floating to the top. Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onions and then you have your soup in less than 15 minutes.