I love Tom Yum soup. I have tried to make it a number of times and failed miserably. This is the first time that I made it that it was actually good. I used this recipe for the foundation and tweaked it to my own taste. I also had some lovely, home-grown summer squash lying around, so I tossed it in. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth/stock
1 stalk lemongrass, sliced
3 whole kaffir lime leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed chili
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size piece ginger, diced
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 teaspoon brown sugar
4 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 cups baby bok choy (cut off the bottom of the bok choy and separate the sprigs. If the
pieces are large, slice the bok choy)
5-6 sprigs of fresh cilantro
Chili oil, to taste
(optional) 1 cup tofu, 1 cup quartered and sliced summer
squash, and/or 1 cup cherry tomatoes
Preparation
- Put vegetable broth in a stock pot. Add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, dried chili, garlic, and ginger. Boil for 5-8 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5-8 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft.
- Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, and lime. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the bok choy (and any optional ingredients). Remove from heat.
- Do a taste-test. If you want more heat, add a little chili oil. If you want it to be a little more salty, add some more soy sauce. Add a little more lime juice, if you want it to be a little more sour. If it is too sour, add a little more brown sugar.
- Serve with a little fresh cilantro.