Thai'ing One On

My wealthy and beautiful benefactor wanted something light on the menu and I suggested the nice combination of a hot and spicy Thai soup. She smirked and challenged me to see what I could come up with without heading out to the store for more supplies.

Thankfully I'd already made a run and came back with my trusty weapon against colds -- Tom Yum paste. If you don't have any, you need to head out to your local Asian market and grab some. You'll be hard pressed to find any in the "Asian" section of your local grocer as they tend to stock those "Thai Dinner" blends and well these work for some; I just choose to go with something a bit closer to the core of the dish I'm trying to create.

Just so you know, this sop cooks up in less than ten minutes and actually takes longer to prep than to make.

Once you start making this, you may never get sick nor order it at a restaurant again!

Products

2 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
10 shrimp, de-veined, shelled with tails removed
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced finely
1 large carrot, cut into sticks or grated lengthwise
1 zucchini, cut into sticks
1 cup of broccoli, cut into florets (small pieces)
2 tbsp of Tom Yum paste
3 cups boiling water
1 cup of coconut milk
2 ounces wide rice noodles
2 limes sliced in halves
3/4 cup of bean sprouts (optional)
4 tbsp cilantro (optional)

(Substitute for Tom Yum paste - 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste with 4 cups of vegetable broth.)

Method

Start by cleaning shrimp. Anyone that knows me, already is reaching for that bag of frozen shrimp and setting them in a bowl of room temperature water. For everyone else, you can either clean the little fellas from the grocery store and set them aside.

For the veggies -- I like grating the carrots into long strands as opposed to chopping them into sticks as I've found that they cook faster this way and really this soup doesn't need a firm texture/feeling. This is all about subtle spice and comfort with all of the items being slightly firm but not crunchy. I like using a mandolin to slice the zucchini into ribbons to keep everything small yet uniform. I also rough chop the broccoli to ensure that everything cooks quickly.

I prefer using two woks. I have a smaller one for the majority of my stir frying and a larger one (with a handle) for soups. This may sound excessive but anyone that's been using a wok for awhile can attest to the heat levels being higher when cooking and plays well with these soups and grilling methods.

In the larger wok (or pot) get the three cups of water going to a boil. While this is happening, heat oil and cook the onion and garlic in the other wok for ~ 2-3 minutes.

Once the garlic starts to brown, add the carrot, broccoli and zucchini and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

As the water reaches a boil, stir in 2 tbsp of Tom Yum paste in and combine well. Once the paste has mixed completely, add rice noodles and coconut milk. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Combine vegetables into broth and shrimp. Cook for another 3 minutes or until done. Be sure to remove from heat just as the shrimp turn pink as prolonged cooking will make the shrimp too tough.

Here you can decide to toss in cilantro and/or bean sprouts just before serving or serve as is.

Provide limes to cut the spice of the soup and enjoy!