Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Tom Yum! Kai



The beauty of living near Hollywood is the abundance of Thai food and Thai grocery stores. Thailand Plaza is home to Silom Supermarket, perhaps the most opulent facade that draws the eye immediately to the spires of Thai influenced architecture. Here can be found all the authentic ingredients to make the national soup of Thailand, Tom Yum. There are many variations of Tom Yum, but the two most popular are Tom Yum Kung and Tom Yum Kai.

Tonight I made Tom Yum Kai. Sure, I could order it from half a million Thai restaurants, but where would challenge be in that?

Here is my recipe, approximated:

2 cups chicken stock
3 cups water
6 kafir lime leaves
4 limes' worth of juice
4 chopped up thai chiles
5 strips of chopped ginger
1 pound shrimp
1 stalk of lemongrass
1 can of straw mushrooms
bunch of cilantro

If you can't find kafir lime leaves, the soup will never achieve the flavor of authentic Tom Yum, so they are very important.

Boil all the ingredients together except he shrimp. Chop the last third of the lemongrass into thin rounds before adding to the soup. I boiled everything for about 12 minutes to allow the flavors to develop. Salt to taste. Finally, put in the shrimp and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 more minutes, the shrimp will cook. Serve everything, warning people not to eat the lemongrass or lime leaves. Shred a handfull of cilantro just before serving and throw it in the soup. Eat!

8 Comments:

  • I love me some Tom Yum, but with the high temps lately, I don't think I would be craving it like I do in the colder months (relative to LA, of course).

    It's a great sinus clearer too when you're stuffed up.

    By Anonymous Jonah, at 8:04 AM  

  • Hey Jonah, that was my thinking exactly, but I was craving the pungent punch of lime and spice. In our upcoming episode, we focus entirely on spicy food, and the notion that spicy food is eaten in hot climates to actually cool off. A spicy gazpacho would probably be better for cooling down in this heat wave. Between me and you (and everyone reading) I let it cool way down before eating.

    By Blogger Steve Wasser, at 9:03 AM  

  • I always hear that hot things are supposed to help you cool off, but somehow, it's hard to get myself to eat it when it's so melting outside.

    The only thing I like better than tom yum kai is tom ka gai. It's so good that a designer on Trading Spaces designed a whole room around it!

    By Blogger KT, at 1:10 PM  

  • KT - You know, I might actually remember that episode. It was the designer with the annoying southern accent, right? Did it in muted greens or something like that.

    I think I know what the idea is behind it, since it was hot and I was eating it. You sweat a bit, and feel sort of a simulated body heat like a fever, so that your surroundings seem cooler than they are. Sounds counterintuitive, I know, but I could see where some people would feel the placebo effect

    By Blogger Steve Wasser, at 1:17 PM  

  • I guess that is a classic episode of Trading Spaces. I don't think it was the Southern accent designer though, I think it was the designer who acted like she was 12 all the time. The room was the colors of the soup: coconut white, lemongrass green and ... um, mushroom color, I guess.

    I had some chicken tom ka last night and I don't think it made me any cooler, but it sure was tasty.

    By Blogger KT, at 5:49 PM  

  • Oh yeah, you're right it was the other one...Can't say it really cools me off either, but its a nice myth :)

    By Blogger Steve Wasser, at 6:04 PM  

  • zYou, my friend, were caught up in the maelstrom of inebrieation to only discover Pimms was snuck upon you as a sneaky daeamon. It did I.

    By Blogger Steve Wasser, at 10:44 PM  

  • Looks like a delcious tom yum

    By Blogger Ange, at 10:12 PM  

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