Thai Tom Yum Soup in 7 Minutes! Seriously.

Let’s talk Thai.

Thai Tom Yum Soup

I am SO excited to share this recipe with you! Like, SUPER DUPER excited. Seriously. I wanted to learn how to make this the SECOND I tasted it in our favorite Thai restaurant. It is a spicy-sour mushroom soup. May not sound like much, but it is WOW. I love it. Especially if you add some shrimp or chicken. And as an added bonus, there are studies being conducted on how this soup is an immune system booster! SAWEET! But hey – one mother to another – the BEST part of this recipe is how stinkin’ fast this comes together. Once your ingredients are gathered, this soup comes together and is ready to serve in 7 minutes. 7 MINUTES! It doesn’t get any better than that, folks.

This recipe will make enough for four adults, or 2 adults and 4 children.

*Don’t get overwhelmed with these ingredients. Most you will probably already have around the house, and the rest have easy substitutes.*

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (one carton) of soup stock (I use chicken, but feel free to substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian variation)
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 stalk lemon grass
• 5-6 kaffir lime leaves (or substitute the zest from one lime – though the lime leaves are THE BEST)
• 3-4 cups mushrooms, cut into large chunks
• 2-3 cups chopped, cooked chicken (optional – omit if you are looking for a vegetarian variation)
• 4 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is best, but can use bottled)
• 6 Tbsp fish sauce (can substitute soya sauce for a vegetarian variation)
• 4-5 fresh thai chilies, or 3 Tbsp chili paste, or 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes (or heck, a few shots of Tabasco – whatever you want to give it some HEAT)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
• Twine (for tying up the lemon grass stalks)

Okay, obviously the hardest ingredients to find here will be the lemon grass and the lime leaves. Look at your local Asian market for these. I actually found the lemon grass at our WalMart Supercenter – this is pretty easy stuff to find if you know where to look. The lime leaves might be more difficult. We found the lime leaves in a bag in the freezer section of our local Asian market. Never would have thought to look there! You can ask someone who works there. If you can’t find these ingredients, use the zest of one lemon in place of the lemongrass, and the zest of 1-2 limes (key limes work best) in place of the kaffir lime leaves.

But, trust me on this, please use the lime leaves and lemon grass if you can – these babies give you that authentic Thai flavor. Just give those lime leaves a whiff. BLISS!!!!

Directions:
Empty the soup stock into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil

While you are waiting for the stock to come to a boil, grab your stalks of lemon grass (if it’s a large stalk, cut it into smaller pieces) and your tenderizing mallet. Using a cutting board, pound the stalks of lemon grass flat – POUND IT BABY! You want to open it up to release those sweet lemony juices. Seriously, smell it. It’s like a delicious version of Lemon Pledge. Powerful stuff!

I like to then take some twine to tie the lemon grass talks into a little bundle. This makes for easy retrieval later (as you don’t want to eat this stuff.)

By now your soup stock has come to a boil, most likely, so you’ll add in your lime leaves, pulverized tenderly flattened lemon grass, mushrooms, and chicken (if you’re using it) to the stock and let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Just let it simmer while you gather/measure the remaining ingredients.

Add in the remaining ingredients (except the cilantro) and simmer for a minute.

Dish up, being sure to remove the bundle of lemongrass and the lime leaves. Garnish with some cilantro and done!

My husband lived for two years among people from Southeast Asia, and he gives this soup an emphatic two thumbs up! In fact, he’s already asking me when I’ll be making it again. Uh – a meal in under 10 minutes? I’ll make it tomorrow!

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