A bowl of something good
After a long break in posting, I’m finally back with a fabulous new recipe. In the past few months, I’ve become enchanted by the travels of chef/writer Anthony Bourdain on his Travel Channel show No Reservations. Frequently on his journeys across the globe, Bourdain finds himself enjoying a hearty bowl of soup, often prepared by a roadside vendor in a developing nation. Bourdain often muses about how some of the best foods on the planet are served in bowls by unassuming folks who have honed the craft of cooking over years of working with what they had readily available. I strongly agree with Bourdain about the unexpected goodness that can often be found in a bowl of soup, which is one of my favorite type of dish to just assemble on a whim.
My recent love of Thai food prompted me to try to make one of my favorite Thai finds, tom yum soup. One of the key ingredients in this tangy soup is lemongrass, which is not readily available in my area, so I had never tried to make it at home. I was happy to discover recently that in the herb section at Kroger, they have lemongrass paste in a tube that I quickly realized meant I could try my hand at tom yum soup.
Another recent find also helped make my cooking task easier. When looking at the Mexican food section at Wal-Mart, I noticed a box of cilantro cubes. I love cilantro, but I hate chopping it up, so I was thrilled to see that someone had cleverly dried chopped cilantro and formed it into little cubes!
After finding a recipe online that I could use as a base for my bowl of something good, I began creating my own version of the soup. One of the things that appealed to me most about this soup and many of the soups that I’ve seen Bourdain sample in Asian countries is the addition of a variety of tangy condiments to individual bowls of soup. My husband always laughs at my inclusion of a “fixin’s bar” when I cook, but I have to admit that I love preparing little bowls of toppings for my dishes whether it’s soup or chili dogs. I have decided that my love of fixin’s is a direct result of the Tupperware salad server my mom used when I was a kid. Today’s fixin’s bar consisted of chopped green onions, chopped tomatoes and chili-garlic sauce. It was delicious!
4-6 c. chicken stock
2 T. lemongrass paste
2 T. fish sauce
2 T. soy sauce
3-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or 3 T. minced garlic
1/2 can coconut milk
1 cilantro cube or 3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1 can straw mushrooms, drained
1 T. Asian chili-garlic sauce
2 T. lime juice
1 c. chopped cooked chicken, if desired
Chopped tomatoes and green onions
Additional chili-garlic sauce
Add stock and lemongrass to a large pot and turn heat to medium-high. Boil for 5 minutes, or until fragrant. Add cilantro, soy sauce, garlic, lime juice and mushrooms to broth. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add chicken, coconut milk, fish sauce and chili sauce. More coconut milk can be added if you wish your soup to be more creamy and/or less spicy. Top individual bowls with onions, tomatoes and chili sauce, if desired.
Tags: International, Soups, spicy, Thai