Spicy Tom Yum Soup
The stuff you need:
- 2 pounds tiger prawns with heads and shells
- 5 cups veggie stock
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 TBS fish oil
- 3 TBS minced garlic
- 2 stalks fresh lemon grass, tough outer leaves removed and and white part slightly crushed
- 5 kaffir lime leaves (found in Asian market)
- 5 shallots, thinly sliced
- 5 slices galangal (in ginger root family-found in Asian market)
- 1 cup thinly sliced bok choy
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
- 10 chile padi (bird’s eye chiles), thinly sliced (found in Asian market)
- 1 tablespoon Asian red chili paste (found in Asian market)
- 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast – cut into cubes
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 large squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
- 1/2 (15 ounce) can baby corn, drained
- 1/2 (6 ounce) can whole straw mushrooms, drained
- 3 fresh tomatoes, quartered
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- salt to taste
What to do with the Stuff:
- Wash the prawns, remove the heads, shells, and black veins, retain the heads
- Set the cleaned prawns aside
- Place the prawn heads in a large saucepan or soup pot with the veggie stock
- Bring to a boil over high heat to reduce the stock and concentrate the flavor
- Strain out the prawn heads and discard
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the garlic, lemon grass, lime leaves, shallots, galangal, and red chilies until the shallots are translucent and the seasonings are fragrant (3-5 minutes)
- Stir in the chili paste,and fish oil, cook and stir for 2-3 minutes
- Add the chicken breast and lime juice
- Stir well to evenly mix in the chili paste, and let the mixture simmer for 3-5 minutes
- Pour the seasoned chicken-lime juice mixture into the prawn stock, bring to a boil over medium-low heat
- When the soup begins to boil, stir in the squid rings, bokchoy, carrots, baby corn, straw mushrooms, cleaned prawns, and tomatoes
- Turn the heat to low, stir in the coconut milk, and let the soup simmer until the prawns are pink and opaque, about 5 minutes
- Add salt to taste, and serve
The Culinary Goddess 