Tom Yum Soup

This one is one of my child hood favorites and it comes as a surprise that even before chinese, thai cuisine was a norm, Tom-Yum Soup has been available in plenty. This simple, thai soup is a comfort food for me and reminds me of “Nanking” – the first asian restaurant in my home town of Nagpur in central India.

The key to this simple soup is a good stock. We made a shrimp and chicken stock using peels from the shrimp, bones and skin from a rotisserie chicken breast and flavored with cilantro stems, lemon grass and ginger.

The next key ingredient is the thai red-curry paste. I used a store bought paste this time but making it at home is high on my to-do list. I believe in home-made stocks and feel like it is about time to take my spice blends equally seriously.

5 cups of shrimp stock
1.5 cups baby-bella mushrooms (quartered)
2 stalks of lemon grass (cut into finger long pieces)
4 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
0.5 inch piece of galangal (can substitute with ginger)
4 red chillis (I used “kashmiri” chillis – they have a nice deep red color but are not very hot, I also shook off most of the seeds to reduce the heat)
1.5 table spoon fish sauce
Juice of 1.5 limes
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 to 1.5 cups coconut milk (as per desired creaminess)
Cilantro and scallions for garnish.

Some of the recipes I researched used a tom-yum soup paste and a thai red chilli paste, but I went with the red curry paste since it is very easily available and multi-purpose.

Most recipes called for mixing in the ingredients and bringing the soup to a slow simmer and boil and then stirring in the coconut milk at last. I tried a different approach. I tempered the galangal/ ginger, kaffir lime leaves, red chillis and mushrooms in a teaspoon of hot vegetable oil. Next I added the red curry paste, lime juice and sugar and stirred for about a minute before adding the stock etc. As the soup came to a slow boil, I finished by adding the coconut juice and garnished with cilantro leaves and chopped scallions.

If you want to make the soup a little heartier, stir in peeled, de-veined shrimps and/or small asian flavored meatballs along with the coconut milk.