Tom Yum Shrimp Soup- Thai Hot & Sour

I've been meaning to blog this since I learned to do this recipe while in Thailand on business last year. I was lucky enough to be able to take an evening Thai cooking class, read about it here.

The funny part about this recipe is that I was SO surprised that in the Thai class (in Thailand!!!) they used Tom Yum Soup Paste... I struggled with that as non-authentic... but when I tried it, I loved it. The Thai cooking instructor's said "it's so easy, this is what we use!".
Okay... now I've been making it at home for over a year, meaning to blog about it

You cannot beat it for easy!
Easy.
You can, of course, make yours from scratch, I am sure it will be great.  There are a lot of great recipes for it on the internet.
This one, well, it's GREAT and it's EASIER.
I always like GREAT and EASIER when paired together...
...Don't YOU? 

I used frozen prawns, but you could use raw thinly sliced pork or chicken, and it will cook quickly in the hot broth. Use your imagination, this one is easily adaptable, yummy and pretty darn good for you too.

Serves 4
Ingredients

1 Lime, strips of peel removed, and juiced
2-3 slices of fresh ginger, leave peel
1Jalapenos, sliced or 2-3Thai chilies
4-5 slices of fresh Lemongrass, cut on the diagonal (Asian market or some grocery stores)
2-3 Tbsp Tom Yum Paste (Asian market or some grocery stores)
4 cups Chicken, or Vegetable, Stock
24 Frozen, or fresh, prawns (about 1/2 lb)
8 oz. Button mushrooms, cut
1 Tomato, cut into chunks
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup Green Onions, sliced

Assemble all your ingredients ahead of time.  This soup comes together fast!
Using a sharp knife, cut the lemongrass on the diagonal in thick slices.
** You don't eat this, it only flavors the broth, so you need to get people's attention that this is a DON'T EAT item (also ginger, lime leaves or rind, and maybe those jalapeno's too).

Since I didn't have Kaffir limes leaves, I used thick pieces of lime peel.  Hey, it works!  Plus, I cut the jalapenos (or bird's eye chilies into rounds)... same thing, for flavoring, not for munching on... unless you want to.  See the photo at the bottom to see what we happily picked out of our soup.

Cut the tomato into big chunks, I got about 16 pcs from my big tomato. Cut in half, each half in quarters, each quarter in half!  Cut the mushrooms into quarters, or keep whole if you use smaller mushrooms. 

Add the broth to the pan, add the ginger, lemon grass, lime peel/leaves and bring to a boil. Add 2-3 Tbsp of Tom Yum paste to the broth.  Stir to combine. 
Add prawns (or chicken, pork, beef, fish or scallops)
Add mushrooms and tomatoes.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Ladle into bowls.
Top with cilantro and green onions. 
Serve at once.

Here's what we took out of our soup.... we easily could have eaten those jalapenos... just chose not to.