Tom Yum Yum

 Blast away the cobwebs with a bowl of WMD grade flavour

 Spring is creeping ever closer to our northern latitudes, and things are starting to happen. As the snow retreats, the landscape’s colour pallet begins the slow transition from white to green, as occasional patches of grass get their first airing of the new year. People – unburdened by full winter gear, de-hunched due to the abating icy winds – appear an inch or two taller. General good naturedness creeps up a few percentiles.  Finland’s metaphorical snow bear is awakening from its hibernation.

In an effort to assist the physical and spiritual spring cleaning, I’d like to share with you my take on a Thai/Laos specialty – Tom Yum Goon. Literally translated as ‘boiled spicy salad soup’ (awseome!), Tom Yum Goon is ridiculously easy to make, packed full of antioxidants and vitamins, and is bursting with mouth-watering flavour.

 Ingredients

 Take a trip to your nearest Asian market (check out my previous blog for shopping tips) and pick up the essentials. Like most Asian dishes, Tom Yum is flexible enough to be adapted for personal tastes. After assembling the core ingredients of lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, chilli and palm sugar, you can choose from literally dozens of ingredients to add into the mix.

 Tip: assemble a little Thai food treasure trove in your freezer – lemongrass, ginger, chillies, tamarind and lime juice ice cubes – for super fast Thai meals.

 Here’s what I’m going to use in my Tom Yum Goon:

 3-4 blades of lemon grass. Beautifully aromatic with pungent citrus notes.

3-4 kaffir lime leaves. Leave to infuse in a variety of dishes for a wonderful depth of flavour.

1-2 tbsp palm sugar. Use a box grater to add directly to the soup as required.

A few glugs of fish sauce. Fantastically savoury and salty.

2 chillies. I picked up a bag of Laos chillies; top flavour and epic heat!

1-200g tofu. Half a kilo can cost as little as €1.50 – economical and nutritious.

15-20 king prawns, shell on. Salt water varieties have the best flavour.

A handful of bean-sprouts. Keep a bag in your freezer to use when needed.

5 cm of ginger/galangal. Keeps fresh for months, and is an amazing source of antioxidants.

A pinch of dried Thai holy basil. Adds another citrus note to the dish.

2-3 juiced limes.

Around a litre of water.

 Tip: add palm sugar to crushed ice, lime juice, a dash of soda water and white rum for Thai-pirinha cocktail. Stir with a stick of lemongrass.

Aromatics infusing in home made broth

 Preparation and Cooking

 De-shell, clean and de-vein your prawns and place the meat to one side. Keep the shells handy, as they’ll be used to make the broth. Dice the tofu, then peel and finely slice the ginger and chillies. Next, slice your lemongrass into 4cm batons and crush using your palm and the flat side of your knife to assist the release of flavour.

 Tip: peel your prawns by removing the head first. Next, peel from the legs to the back, working your way down the body. Finally, apply a little pressure and pull the tail off.

 If you are not a massive fan of spicy food, separate and remove the seeds from the chillies. However, the chilli seeds help to add depth to the flavour profile, so only leave them out if essential.

 Put a splash of oil into a pan over a medium high heat, and add the prawn shells just as the oils is starting to smoke. Cook them for a few seconds until they turn pink, then add the water. Bring up to a simmer, then strain the broth through a sieve into a bowl. Give the pan a quick wipe to remove any remnants of shell, then return to the heat and add the broth. Add the lemongrass, ginger and kaffir lime leaves, bring back up to a simmer and then cook for around 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add the sliced chillies and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the prawns, Thai holy basil and tofu, and cook for around 30 seconds to 1 minute until the prawns are pink. Set the pan to one side, then add fish sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice and palm sugar. Keep tasting until you get the citrus/saline/sweet balance to your taste. Serve immediately.

The finished article

 Leftovers

 You can keep the soup in the fridge for a day or so, but I highly recommend making it fresh every time you decide to eat it. Apart from tofu (which discolours to yellow – harmless but looks weird!), most of the ingredients keep well in the freezer.

 I hope you enjoyed this quick n’ simple recipe, it’s ludicrously easy to make and tastes like sunset in Koh Tao. Enjoy!

John Cozzi