Tom Yum Goong

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of Water
• about 1 cup of shrimp
• Lime Juice
• 2-4 Cloves of Minced Garlic
• Lemon Grass (Found in Produce Section)
• About 1/2 a cup of Mushrooms (doesn’t matter much which kind)
• Kaffir Lime Leaves (this are really hard to find, but I found that my local natural foods store stocked them so call ahead and make sure someone has them! They cannot be substitued!)
• 2 tablespoons of Fishsauce (not soysauce! You can find this in the Asian foods aisle)
• About 2 sprigs of cilantro
• Chil peppers (preferably Thai Chil Peppers)
• 1 tablespoon of Sugar
• Teaspoon of Red Curry paste (no necessary but adds to presentation)

*Note: Everyone prepares this differently. The following recipe is based on how I cook it, and it’s even different from how my dad cooks it. Please Be Aware of this!

Instructions

1. Start to boil 4 cups of water.
2. Peel the shells off of the shrimp and place those shells in the pot with the water.
3. Rinse the shrimp really well and place it aside.
4. When the water begins boiling strain out the shells but make sure to keep the stock!
5. Now add the the shrimp and mushrooms, and heat through.
6. Add everything else (fish sauce, garlic, lemon grass, cilantro, lime juice and Sugar).
7. Heat through for about 5-10 minutes. Stir Often.
8. Turn off the fire and lastly add in the chili peppers. While mostly for garnish, you can cut open peppers to add spicyness.

Viola! Serve in soup bowls and enjoy with rice or by itself!

Some things to consider, this soup is suppose to be a mixture of spicy, (some) sweet and sour. If you have too much spicy just add some more sugar. Too much sour? Add spicy. Too Much sweet? Add a combination of both (with only a tablespoon of Sugar it probably wont be that sweet). You can add to or take away ingredients, the main thing I’ve learned about Thai food is experimenting and seeing what works for you.

Enjoy!