Tom Yum Gai - A Delightful Thai Chicken Soup

My foodie friends, I am back after a short break from blogging. At first weekend party hit me. I fell ill. I had to take a day off from work. Then at work lots of things got piled up (Its something with the Bosses, whenever employees take an off, things start going haywire.) I was dying to get back to cooking and blogging again. Although I made quite a few things in the last few days but couldn't get them posted. From curries to fritters, I made everything and ended up having simmering soups with light recipes.

Festival time is just round the corner. On the weekend, I bought lots of spices, herbs, condiments and other ingredients, making sure my kitchen is fully decked up for all the festival culinary delights. Festivals, holidays and guest all together invoke all the creativity inside me. Experimenting with the taste buds of guest can be tricky. So my poor hubby was the ultimate sufferer of my culinary experiments. But to my delight in my first shot I got my first recipe just right, with loads of praises from him.

Tom Yum Gai or Chicken in lemon grass soup is a popular soup of Thai cuisine, characterized by its distinct hot and sour flavors, with heavenly aroma of herbs. The basic broth is made of vegetable or chicken stock with fresh ingredients such as lemon grass, lime leaves, galangal, shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind, slices of ginger and crushed chili peppers. Because of its health benefits, tom yum soup acts as a natural remedy for cold and flu. It has been in my TO DO list from a lon long time, since I had tasted in my sister's home. I made it her way. The only difference was that she used prawns (Tom Yum Goong) and I used chicken making it Tom Yum Gai. The soup is quick if you can get all the ingredients ready made like tom yum paste. The basic paste can be stored for future use.

Ingredients

For Paste (basic Thai flavoring)

1 tbsp whole black pepper (roasted)
3-4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp salt
1 cup cilantro leaves (chopped)

For Soup

6-7 chicken drumsticks
1 tbsp garlic paste
6-7 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup shallots chopped
2 stems lemon grass;
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
2 red chillies
1 tbsp pepper and cilantro paste
2 galangal/ginger sliced
2 small round tomatoes sliced
3-4 baby corns
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
fresh cilantro for garnish
salt to taste

Method

* Make a paste combining whole black pepper, garlic cloves, lemon juice, salt and cilantro leaves, in a blender.
* Marinate the chicken pieces with 1-2 tbsp of this paste and leave for 15-20 minutes.
* In a large pot, add chicken stock, lime leaves, ginger, chopped garlic, lemon grass, tomatoes, baby corn, salt to taste and chicken. Cook for 30 minutes or till the chicken pieces are tender.
* Add fish sauce, soy sauce and lemon juice. Mix well.
* Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and sliced fresh green chillies.
* Serve hot

Note: This soup is hot and spicy, perfect for cold weather and people suffering from cold. If you like it less or more spicy then adjust the flavor according to your taste.