After cooking this delicious dinner and heading to the gym to smash Body Step my mood abruptly dropped. Nailing the Body Step moves in Australia results in major instructor brownie points. Things like the odd smile and “Yeah, great work!” can be expected. Not in Malaysia. In Malaysia I get told off – in front of the whole class – for using my towel too much because it will cause wrinkles and “make you look old lah!”.
tom yum soup
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
1tbs oil
2tbs vegetarian tom yum paste
Half an onion
1 lemongrass
Knob of ginger
2 red chillies
Bunch of coriander root
4 cups of stock (chicken or veg)
Juice from 2 limes
4tsp fish sauce
2tsp sugar
4 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
Handful of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup broccoli
1 carrot, sliced
Instructions
Roughly chop your onion, lemongrass, ginger, chilli and coriander root.
Heat the oil in a large pot, then over a low heat, add the tom yum paste. Stir through for 2 minutes before adding the the veg from above. Stir regularly for 5 minutes – you don’t want to brown the veg, just release the flavour.
Pour in your stock, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and kaffir lime. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Add the remaining veggies and simmer until cooked.
If you find the broth too sour, add a little more sugar. Too sweet, lime juice. Too bland, fish sauce.
Kitchen notes...
Tom Yum paste can have a really strong shrimp paste flavour to it. This is why I choose a vegetarian option – it’s totally up to you. You can also add sliced chicken or prawns in when you add the remaining veggies.