Tom Yum Goong - Thai lemon grass soup; with home grown tomatoes.
(Minus the mushrooms...) I'd hit it. I love thai food.
Oh, the shrooms are probably my favorite part. I see this photo has rather plain mushrooms, whereas traditional usually has straw mushrooms (a pain in the ass to clean the sand out of.) I prefer to use shiitake mushrooms in mine.
I use Lee brand Tom Yum Paste as a starter, which I'm sure you can find in most major cities (at asian markets, of course), at about $3 for a 16oz jar, from which I use three heaping teaspoons added to three cups water. I add immitation crab meat, tomatoes cut into eights (cherry tomatoes tonight, which is what I have), red peppers, fish sauce and a little sugar. When that's at a rolling boil for a minute or two, I add sliced squid balls (hard to explain--you don't have to use them, anyway), shrimp and mushrooms (the shiitake mushrooms, I pre-soften in boiling water, then slice), then bring to a boil again. Finally, I add lime and cilentro, and my wife likes sliced yellow onion (you may not want to add any sugar if you do this--I prefer green onions for myself.) I add salt or sugar, if necessary, to balance the flavor, and serve with steamed thai rice, which can be added as desired.
By using the paste, I avoid having to keep the more exotic ingredients on hand (e.g. lemon grass, galanga root, kafir lime leaf), and I add the fresh stuff. I've tried other brands, but Lee works best for me. Exactly the same stuff (probably from the same plant) seems to be sold under the Por Kwan brand. My wife, from Taipei, prefers it to the stuff at the local Thai restaurant, at which we otherwise both enjoy many great dishes.
The Free Talk Live BBS
Author
Topic: Tonight's dinner selection: (Read 164049 times)