Sensational Seafood Tom Yum

The cold weather has got me thinking of soups all the time, I have had the minestrone, the gumbo, or the clam chowder. My palette was longing for something Asian, so I thought of the smashing Thai Tom Yum Soup.

My version of this simple yet delish soup.

If you can can get your hands on a good tom yum paste, it will make things easy for you, but assuming that you dont, fear not as it will still be an easy task to produce this tasty soup.

Ingredients:

300 g seafood marinara mix
4 cups water
2 garlic cloves minced
5 kaffir lime leaves
3 thin slices fresh or dried galangal
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 stalks lemon grass cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) lengths
2 shallots, sliced
1/2 cup sliced bak choy or mushrooms
5 green Thai chili peppers (optional)
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) lime juice
1 teaspoon black chili paste (if not available u can finely blend 5 fresh chilies and fry in oil until it splits and caramelized)
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro/coriander leaves 

Method:

1. Heat water to the  boil.
2. Add the chili paste, garlic, lime leaves, galangal, fish sauce, lemon grass and shallots to the water & chili peppers, if using. Cook gently for 5 minutes.
3. Add bak choy or mushrooms to the soup, leave to simmer for another 3 minutes When the seafood pieces are cooked add lime juice. Pour the soup into the bowl, stir, garnish with the cilantro leaves, and serve.

Enjoy with a bowl of rice!