Tomyum Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Goong ต้มยำกุ้ง)

My love for Tom Yum started way back when I was in secondary school. I love, love Tom Yum! And the love intensified when I had my first authentic Tom Yum during my trip to Bangkok a decade ago. The first differences that i noticed about their tom yum is that they put lots of chopped coriander, whereas back then in Malaysia, it's either we don't put coriander or it's just there for garnish. The fragrant of coriander goes really well with the flavor of the tangy, spicy and savoury of tom yum soup. It helps to boost the flavor and enhance the taste.

I was at Bangkok for 8 days and do you believe that I had Tom Yum every single day? Crazy huh! Luckily for me and my stomach, we were fine with the spiciness.

Three Best Friends in Thai Cuisine
Galangal, Lemongrass and Kaffir Leaves

...these three ingredients are mostly present in Thaicooking...

Tom Yum is actually a very simple soup which can be done in less than an hour (if you have the shrimp stock ready). The base ingredients are galangal, lemongrass and kaffir leaves. These three ingredients are mostly present in Thai cooking. The rich aroma from these three ingredients are heavenly.

In Tom Yum soup, fresh bird;s eyes chillies, fish sauce and lime juice are also added. Together, they create an appetizing and yummy~licious soup that is tangy, spicy and savory all at the same time.

Another star ingredient in Tom Yum soup is nam prik pao which is thai roasted chilli paste. You can easily get this in supermarket. If you are looking for a rich red color in Tom Yum soup, you may add more of nam prik pao.

Appetizing and Yummy~licious Tom Yum Goong

You can be really versatile in this dish by switching up or adding other ingredients such as squid, clams, chicken fillet or fish fillet. Straw mushroom and water convolvulus/ kangkung are also ingredients that taste great with Tom Yum soup.

A bowl is never enough!

TOMYUM SHRIMP SOUP (TOM YUM GOONG ต้มยำกุ้ง)

Prep Time  : 35 mins
Cook Time : 30 mins
Total Time : 1 hour 05 mins
Serves       : 3 - 4 pax

Ingredients:
1.5ℓ shrimp stock (see note below)
12 large-sized shrimp, deshelled with head and tail intact
200g oyster mushroom, cut into bited-sizes
3 lemongrass stalk, bruised
8-9 round galangal, about 5mm thickness
7-8 pcs kaffir leaves
8-10 bird's eyes chillies, slit half and deseeded
1 tsp sugar
6 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp lime juice
2-3 Tbsp nam prik pao
Evaporated milk
A handful coriander, chopped

Directions:
1. In a medium pot, add shrimp stock, lemongrass, galangal and bird's eye chillies. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes until you can smell the fragrant of the herbs.

2. Tear kaffir leaves into half to release the aroma and add into the stock. Add in the oyster mushroom and let it comes to a boil again before adding the shrimps. Simmer for another 3-5 minutes or until the shrimps are cooked. Remove the shrimps from the soup and set aside.

3. Add the sugar, fish sauce and nam prik pao into the soup. Off the heat, and add in the lime juice. Adjust the taste to your liking. When the taste is adjusted to your liking, add back the shrimps and bring to a boil.

4. Once boiled, simmer 1 minute and off the heat. Scoop into individual bowl, add in 1-2 tablespoons of evaporated milk and sprinkle generously with chopped coriander. Serve immediately!

Notes:
● Shrimp Stock : Heat 3 Tbsp of oil in a heavy bottom pot, fry a handful of shrimp shell and shrimp head until fragrant. Add in 2ℓ water, 1-2 coriander roots, and let it simmer for 30-40 mins. Strain the stock and your shrimp stock is ready! You may use immediately or put in the fridge for 3-4 days, freezer upto 4-6 months.

● You may need to add a little bit more of fish sauce, depending on the brand of the fish sauce used. Always taste the soup first!

● You may add more nam prik pao for a redder looking soup. Anything between 2-5 Tbsp would be ideal. Anything more than that may affect the taste.

● Do not simmer the soup for too long after adding in the lime juice, or else the light aroma from the lime juice will be gone.

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Beetroot Soup with Corn and Carrot

Even tho' beetroot has been around for a long time, but it was only made known as one of the superfood about a decade ago. Beetroot is a sweet root vegetable which most people will either love it or hate it due to its distinctive earthy taste. And my family happens to belong to the "Love it!" group.

I begun adding beetroot into our diet mainly because it was known to helps lower blood pressure. You see, both my parents had and is having HBP, so me being their daughter is prone to having it at later stage. Like my late father always said, "Prevention is better than cure!"

Knowing about its other nutritional value (such as below) also helps to deepen our love for this beautiful vegetable.

NUTRITIONAL VALUES
- a good source of potassium and other minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, sodium, zinc, copper, selenium).
- contain vitamin C which helps boost your immune system and protect cells from damaging free radicals. It also supports collagen production, wound healing, and iron absorption.
- contain betaine, a substance that helps prevent or reduce fatty deposits in the liver. Betaine may also help protect your liver from toxins.
- may prevent cancer.
*source from healthline.

You can enjoy beetroot by juicing it or cooking it. In this post, I am going to show you the latter option which is also my children's favourite. They are both 5 years old and 3 years old respectively. It is such a breeze cooking this for them because they will finish up all the beet and soup in no time.

A Hearty Bowl of Red~licious Soup

Usually I will cook this soup in the morning so that my children can have them for their lunch and dinner. For lunch, I will add pasta and a hard boiled egg to it. While for dinner, they will be drinking the soup alongside with other dishes and rice.

As you can see in the photo above, I've cut the carrot in slices. This is because my children likes soft carrot. You can cut it into thick chunks if you prefer some texture to your carrot. I've added wolfberries because they are said to improve eye sights and also simply because my daughter love them.

Hope you'll enjoy this recipe!

BEETROOT SOUP WITH CORN AND CARROT

Prep Time  : 20 mins
Cook Time : 135 mins
Total Time : 2 hours 35 mins
Makes       : 3 - 4 pax

Ingredients:
300g pork ribs
2pcs chicken feet (optional)
1 beetroot (approx. 400g) - (peeled and cut into approx. 1.5cm thickness)
1 corn (cut into 3 parts)
1 carrot (thick chunks)
1 Tbsp wolfberries (soaked 10mins in warm water to soften)
2ℓ water
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. In a small pot, blanch pork ribs for 5 minutes to remove impurities. Discard the water and wash the pork ribs briefly under running tap water.

2. In a big pot, add pork ribs, chicken feet and the rest of the ingredients except wolfberries, and bring to a boil over high heat.

3. Reduce to medium high heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. After that, reduce to low heat and let simmer for 2 hours.

4. Add wolfberries and salt to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Notes:
● Do not boil longer than 3 hours, it will change its color to somewhat brown.

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Old Cucumber Soup

"If you don't have time for home-cooked meals, you must at least drink home-cooked soups," this is what the elderly would normally tell the younger generation. I don't quite understand this (when I was younger) and I thought soups are just for flavor. But now, after being a wife and a mother, I am beginning to understand why the elderly always stressed on that.

It is true! If you don't have time for home-cooked meals, you must at least drink home-cooked soups. There are really a lot of nutrition in a bowl of soup. The nutrition for each type of chinese soup is different according to its kind and combination. This will help to (at least) make up for all the unhealthy foods that you ate outside.

Use a knife to roughly scrap off the skin.

...beside that it is yummy-licious, it has a lot of beneficial effects...

Old cucumber soup is one of my hubby's favorite. Beside that it is yummy-licious, it has a lot of beneficial effects. The main benefit is that it is cooling for the body especially for scorching hot days like these days. Old cucumber is also good for the skin and helps prevent aging. (Double Yay for the ladies)

With red dates and honey dates, you get loads of Vitamin A, B1, B2, protein, calcium, phosphorous, iron and magnesium. For women, red dates are good in enriching and replenishing blood.

And with wolfberries/ goji berries, you get the nutrition for your eyes (to protect and improve vision), as well as high in Vitamin C and low in calories.

While dried scallops helps to enhance the flavor of the soup distinctively, for health benefits, it helps to replenishes blood and improve spleen.

Lastly by adding a bulb of garlic, it helps to boost the immune system. Garlic also helps to add some thickness to the soup as well as flavor.

Now, with so many beneficial effects in a soup, why wouldn't you want to drink home-cooked soups, right?

OLD CUCUMBER SOUP

Prep Time  : 15 mins
Cook Time : 180 mins
Total Time : 3 hours 15 mins
Serves       : 3 - 4 pax

Ingredients:
1 old cucumber (deseeded and sliced)
300g pork ribs
7 pcs dried red dates
2 pcs dried honey dates
10 pcs dried scallops (optional)
1 Tbsp wolfberries
1 bulb garlic (keep whole)
3ℓ water

Directions:
1. In a small pot, blanch pork ribs for 5 minutes to remove impurities. Discard the water and wash the pork ribs briefly under running tap water.

2. In a big pot, add pork ribs and the rest of the ingredients except wolfberries, and bring to a boil over high heat.

3. Reduce to medium high heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. After that, reduce to low heat and let simmer for 2-3 hours until the old cucumber is soft.

4. Add wolfberries and salt to taste and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve hot!

Notes:
● For the pork ribs, you may prepare a dipping with light soy sauce and a dash of white pepper.

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Chinese Spinach in Superior Stock

Spinach is one of the most eaten superfood in my family. These dark leafy greens are rich in antioxidants and high in iron, calcium, folic acid, and vitamins A and C, which are all great for growing bones and brains. I've memorized all these facts by heart because I've done alot of researches when I was a new mommy last time. Back then, I was always trying to find out what are the superfoods to feed my baby.

Spinach as one of the superfoods.
Now, my hubby love to eat spinach more than my daughter. One of his favorite spinach dish is this spinach in superior stock. This is a quick way of serving your family with a superlicious and fancy 2-in-1 dish. 2-in-1 because it is a vege dish in a soup.

CHINESE SPINACH IN SUPERIOR STOCK

Prep Time  : 10 mins
Cook Time : 30 mins
Total Time : 40 mins
Serves       : 2 - 3 pax

Ingredients:
1 bundle chinese spinach (300g)
2/3 cup dried anchovies
1 small slice ginger
3 cloves garlic (lightly smashed)
2 tsp wolfberries
1 century egg (cut into 8 wedges)
1 cooked salted egg yolk (mashed)
1/2 Tbsp shaoxing wine
600ml water
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Pluck off spinach leaves from stem. Wash the spinach thoroughly, at least going through 3 rinses. There will be alot of sands.

2. Give dried anchovies a quick rinse. Drain in colander.

3. Soak wolfberries in a bowl of water until plump up. Drain and set aside.

4. In a medium pot, sauté ginger and dried anchovies until fragrant. Add in water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to medium high and cover with lid. Let boil for 10 minutes. Drain and discard the dried anchovies and ginger. Keep the broth.

5. In a medium pot, sauté garlic until fragrant. Add in the dried anchovies broth and bring to a boil. Add in spinach and cook until spinach are just wilted.

6. Then add in wolfberries and shaoxing wine. Cook until the alcohol has evaporated, approx. 10 seconds. Add in salt to taste.

7. Pour out the soup into a deep plate or bowl and garnish with mashed cooked salted egg yolk and century eggs wedges.

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