Thai Week: Tom Yam Soup

Breakfast: Granola with blueberries

Lunch: Hummus and salad sandwich

Dinner: Tom Yam Soup

 It’s amazing how often you disregard amazing recipes that you know how to make simply because the idea doesn’t jump out at your when you open the fridge. I was so excited to get home and make this meal today as I haven’t made it in close to 2 years, and I remembered it being such a delightful balance of sweet and sour.

Like most of the recipes I’ll be sharing this week, you can make it using just one wok, and after the food has been prepped it will take just 15 minutes to cook. Is there any excuse not to make it?

The vegetables here are interchangeable, but I’d suggest that carrot, onion, broccoli and tomatoes should always be used where possible. Tomato is surprisingly quite a mainstay in real Thai cooking, and broccoli is amazing in any soup or sauce-based dish as it’s nature’s sponge, without being as gross as that sentence implies.

You’ll need:

(Feeds 2)

         3 cups water

         4 slices galangal

         4 lemongrass stalks

         4 kaffir lime leaves

         1 thinly sliced carrot

         1 head broccoli, chopped

         1 tomato, chopped

         1 onion, chopped

         150g firm tofu, fried in chunks

         1/2 tin water chestnuts

         4 tbsp soy sauce

         2 tsp sugar

         1 spring onion, chopped

         handful of coriander leaves, chopped

         juice of 1 lime

         2 tbsp Tom Yam Chili Paste (see yesterday’s post)

         4 tbsp coconut cream/milk

Method:

Boil the water in the wok

Add the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, tofu and all the veg except the tomato

         While boiling, add the soy sauce and sugar

         When the veg is tender but before the water has evaporated, throw in the tomatoes

         After 2 mins, take off the heat

         Stir in the Tom Yam Chlii Paste, lime juice and coconut cream/milk

         Top with spring onion and coriander and serve!

A quick tip: if you add the kaffir lime leaves whole rather than crushing them, they’re easier to fish out so your guests don’t mistake them for coriander and chomp away.

If you make this meal, please, please make sure that there are no errant water-dwellers in your kitchen before you begin prep. I didn’t even notice him while chopping, but as I drained my bowl I saw with horror that there was a singular sad little fish at the bottom of it. I hope I didn’t accidentally eat his friends.