Lyn’s guest post: Tom Yum (improvised) soup

Cooking Thai dishes is always frustrating if you’re not in Thailand (or a city with a large enough Asian population so that base ingredients are readily available), simply because of the issues involved in finding everything you need to recreate those flavors. That said, part of this need is a mental block and there are absolutely ways to get around missing key ingredients.

Last Thursday we spent the evening doing a pan-Asian cooking night. I had planned to make Tom Yum soup with a coconut-curry-stir-fry noodle concoction. However, after hitting three different grocery stores I still had not been able to find Tom Yum paste (pretty much every other ingredient you could ever want, but not Tom Yum) and so moved on to plan B: improvisation.

You’ll need (enough for 4 generous portions):

• 3-4tsp Sesame oil
• 4 large tsp Massaman curry
• 750ml water
• 4-5 pieces of dried galangal
• 3-4 Kaffir lime leaves
• 2 stalks lemongrass (chopped vertically) or 2-3 tsp lemon grass paste
• 1 medium onion, sliced into long strips
• 2 medium carrots, peeled, halved and sliced into long strips
• 2 large tomatoes, thickly sliced and cut into wedges
• 6-8 tbsps soy sauce (½ light and ½ dark if available)
• 6-8 tbspns coconut milk
• 4 tsps palm sugar (either granular or paste)
• 180-200g king prawns/large shrimp (preferably uncooked and shelled)
• 2x baby bok choy (when available)

Instead, in the soup base I used a Massaman curry paste. Not really traditional, but definitely channeling the same flavours. To start you add a drop of a couple of teaspoons of oil (preferably sesame, both for the flavour and the high burning point. Vegetable will work as well) to a wok.

Allow the oil to heat up nicely and then drop in 2-4 heaped teaspoons of Massaman curry paste (the measurements will vary by how much water you’re using in the soup and how spicy you like the soup to be). Allow the curry paste and oil to sort of congeal, as you stir continuously.

Then add in the water  – you should measure this out prior to starting, a good way to estimate is to take the soup bowl you plan serve in and fill it with water as if you were dishing the soup. Multiply this measure by however many people you are serving and add an extra 100ml or so for ‘just in case’.

Stir to make sure that the paste ball dissolves nicely, but the water should still be rather translucent. Throw in some pieces of galangal, some broken up Kaffir lime leaves, some lemon grass stalks (you need to break these down into long thin pieces, or use a lemongrass paste and mix it in at this time).

Once the water reaches a boil throw in a small handful (per person) of onions, carrots and tomato wedges. At this stage taste the broth and make sure there is enough of the curry flavour for you – if not, stir in another teaspoon or two of curry paste. Taste again.

Add 1-2 Tablespoons (per person) of soy cause, and then another 1-2 Tablespoons (per person) of coconut milk. Drizzle in some palm sugar (about a tsp per person, but again this depends on how sweet and sour you want the soup to taste) and stir. Taste again.

At this point, I should interject that while this is the list of ingredients and a recommended order its more about your tastes and what you like. Keep a spoon on hand, and if you like lots of spice (or only a little) and everyone else eating is the opposite it’s also a good idea to keep a secondary taster on stand-by! But this cooking is all about what you like and cooking to you tastes, so remember to taste a lot and adjust accordingly, there are no right or wrong flavours.

Once you’ve decided that the flavors are to your liking, add in the shrimp (again a small handful per person, but this is definitely not an area to scrimp on!!) and mix in until they are cooked and a lovely pink colour. Now throw in a handful of greens (per person), boy choy, chard etc are good options here. Give it a quick stir and serve.

If you need to stall once you’ve started the soup, get to the soy sauce and coconut milk stage, establish a broth that you like and turn down the heat – remember to stir occasionally. When you’re close to serving time, turn the heat back up (to just below boiling) and continue to add the ingredients. Once the shrimp are cooked and the greens added, you need to serve and eat immediately.

Thanks, Lyn!