Tom Yum Soup Recipe

As I indulged in a home made "tom yum" soup, I thought to myself that this was perfect for a chilly winter night. Sitting on my couch covered in a Tasmanian Merino wool blanket. One hand holding a bowl of steaming hot tom yum soup. The other hand gently scooping a spoonful of tom yum into my mouth. 

A mild sensation swept through my sensory glands - it has all the hallmark of being zesty and tangy - sharp flavoured with a mix of  sourness, saltiness and spiciness.  Soup is something that is very simple to make at home. Throw everything into a pot and slow boiling until it is aromatic and cooked.

I had the urge for tom yum. Tom yum is addictive in my mind. It does to me like craving for a 750g bag of potato chips. I raced to my usual Sunday's Little Saigon market (LSM) at Footscray. LSM is a collection of different shops and stalls inside a building complex selling fresh produce - 2 fruit and vegetable vendors, 2 seafood vendors, 3 fresh meat vendors. There is an Asian BBQ meat stand selling the usual 3 types of roast meats - char siew (Chinese barbeque pork), roast pork and roast duck. There are a couple of  pastry shops and a couple of pre-cooked Chinese/Vietnamese dishes bain-marie style for $5 per takeaway container.    

Tom yum is the Thai name for the country's most popular Thai soup. It is a clear soup. Not creamy. Depending on the star ingredient in the soup - it is either called Tom Yum "Goong" for prawn, Tom Yum "Pla" for fish, Tom Yum "Kai" for chicken, Tom Yum "Thale" for seafood, etc. The most common is Tom Yum Goong.  

I started with the idea in my mind of making my tom yum as tom yum goong. But, then I decided to add a small portion of the fresh salmon that I have bought from LSM.  I have no rule in what I should or shouldn't add into my tom yum, but the basic ingredients, which is a MUST in making the soup stock:

• ​1 lemongrass stalk, break into halves and bruised
• 10 kaffir lime leaves
• A generous bunch of coriander stalks with leaves and roots (cleaned first)
• A generous bunch of spring onions stalks (bottom half) 
• 6 dried chillies
• 2 bird eye chillies
• 1 inch galangal
• 1 lime​
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 litre of water

Cooking method:

1. ​Fill the pot with 1 litre of water. Add lemongrass, coriander, spring onions, galangal, chillies, kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce
2. Gently cook at medium heat. Once bubbling, turn the heat to low to slow simmer to diffuse the different flavours from the fragrant herbs
3. Cook for an hour. Then add the fish and prawns. I have some pieces of fried puff tofu in my fridge. I love puff tofu in curry and spiced gravy dish. It is a like a sponge soaking up the flavour of the dish.  When crunch in the mouth, it oozes with the delicate mixture of spices into the palate. Sensational. I have no rule in my cooking. I love tofu, so I added the tofu.
4. Other produces that I add - the common button mushrooms, all sliced up and cherry tomatoes. Do not use strong flavoured mushroom as it will ruin and alter the flavour of the tom yum soup
   
5. To serve, garnish with more corianders and chopped spring onions