I have always been a fan of Thai food. My love for spicy food has helped me realize & appreciate the unique blend of flavors in Thai dishes. They're a combination of very simple everyday, garden greens, but combined in a way that gives it that tangy, unique flavor.

If you're lucky enough to live in Malaysia, I can point out a few good Thai restaurants that serve authentic (or close to) cuisines. If you live in the west where great authentic Thai food is hard to come by, then I'm glad to say I can assist you, or rather instruct you, in getting that fiery, sour, extremely addictive soup that is the Thai Tom Yum.

Trust me, it's very simple to achieve this super delicious broth. It just takes a very simple combination of several simple ingredients and about 30 minutes of stewing.

Note that my recipe here makes enough soup to serve about 4-6 people.

1-1/2 litres of chicken stock broth (I used 3 chicken stock cubes to make this broth)

2 stalks of lemongrass (outer leaves removed and sliced)

6 bird's-eye chillies (sliced)

3cm galangal root (thinly sliced) - could be substituted with young ginger

12 kaffir lime leaves (sliced)

1 tomato (diced)

2 cloves garlic (sliced & crushed slightly)

3 whole onions (diced)

3 huge limes (juiced, be sure to throw away the seeds)

1/2 red bell pepper (diced)

1tbsp chilli paste

1 slice of fish (or better still, use 16 fresh prawns and some squid)

250g canned straw mushrooms (sliced) - can be substituted with button mushrooms

8tbsps fish sauce (add according to taste)

3tbsps sugar

Fill a pot with the chicken stock broth and bring it to a boil.

Once it's boiling, add the lemongrass, chillies, galangal, onions, garlic and lime leaves.

Leave them to simmer for 1-2 minutes while the flavors are being drawn out by the heat.

After that, add in the fish(or prawns), mushrooms, bell pepper, tomato and fish sauce.

Reduce the heat to medium and stir it. 

Add in the lime juice, stir. Add in the chilli paste, stir. Add in sugar, stir.

Let it simmer for about 3 minutes so that the flavors would have times to be released and to properly combine with one another.

Now taste it. If it's not sour enough, add more lime and about 5 more kaffir leaves.

If it's not salty enough, add in another 3 tablespoons of fish sauce.

To add more spice, use 2 more sliced chillies or a half tablespoon of chilli paste.

Once the fish or prawns have cooked well enough, turn your stove off and transfer soup into a huge soup bowl and serve. :)

I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did. :)

Have a spicy weekend!

xxx