La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

It's the season for warm food and that means lots of soup posts (in case you haven't noticed). Tom Yum(my) Soup is a Thai soup made with a paste of red chile, garlic, lemon grass, and lime. The paste is available at any asian grocery. The taste is a light version of hot and sour soup (not thick like the Chinese version). I personally like this soup with coconut milk and tofu and served with rice.

You will need: Tofu, white onion, green onion, mushrooms, cilantro, thai basil (optional), coconut milk (light), tom yum paste, veggie stock.

Step One: If serving this with rice, start cooking this first - you know how by now.

Step Two: In a large pot, add your 1 cup of rough chopped mushrooms, 1/4 white onion thinly sliced, 4 sprigs of green onion chopped into long pieces, 3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced. Cook this at medium high with 2 tblsp of vegetable or olive oil for 5 minutes or until vegetables start to sweat and become a little soft.

Step Three: Pour in 1 cup of vegetable stock, can of light coconut milk, 1 cup of water. Add 2 heaping tablespoons of Tom Yum paste and work it into the broth.

Step Four: Dice your tofu into bite sized pieces - again, I like to use the extra soft because it absorbs the most flavor. Bring the entire pot to a simmer. If you like thai basil, you can add a handfull of leaves at this point.

Step Five: Serve soup over a scoop of rice and sprinkle cilantro on top.

Labels: coconut milk, soup, tofu

Sorry for these late postings: cooking calls.
I love curry. If you enjoy eating chile, curry is something you should try - at least once. This green curry recipe is simply wonderful and it practically makes itself.
You need the following:

Cookware: 1 large skillet, 1 medium sauce pot for rice.

Ingredients:
- 1 green bell pepper,
- ¼ white onion,
- 1 clove of garlic (or more if you'd like),
- 1 tsp of fresh chopped ginger (optional),
- 1 cup of fresh sliced bamboo shoots (canned),
- 3 tbsp green curry paste,
- 1 can of light coconut milk,
- 1/2 c veggie stock,
- 1/2 c white wine,
- olive oil, cilantro (optional),
- 1 lb shrimp, tofu or chicken.

Step One: Prep the following before doing anything else: Cook the rice (1 cup of rice cooks in 2 cups of water, bring this to a boil in the medium sauce pot with a dash of salt and then cover immediately with foil or a lid, and reduce heat to LOW). The rice takes about ½ hour, the entire cooking time for this meal. Also, peel and devein 12 pieces of shrimp (you can buy it deveined). Shrimp should be raw and ready to go.

Step Two: In the skillet, add your ¼ white onion (slice it thin), 1 bell pepper (remove the seeds and slice long pieces), 1 c of bamboo shoots, crushed garlic, 2 tbsp of olive oil, ginger. Cook this for 5-7 minutes on medium-high heat. Be sure to stir it up.

Step Three: Add the shrimp or chicken (raw, boneless, cut into small pieces). Add the ½ cup of white wine. Cook this for 3 minutes (if cooking chicken, cook this for 5-7 minutes).

Step Four: Add ½ cup of veggie stock, 1 can of light coconut milk, 4 tbsp of chopped cilantro, and 2-3 tbsp of green curry paste (add more if you like it spicy). Cook this on medium heat so it simmers (a slight boil) for another 5-7 minutes. If you prefer tofu, add it here (chopped into squares, I like the extra soft texture). Make sure the meat you added is cooked through before you serve.

Step Five: Serve this yummy curry over a scoop of rice and salt to taste.

A tip about curry paste: This is essential to the dish. Your local Asian grocer will have a variety of curry pastes. Read the ingredients for purity (the paste should consist of recognizable ingredients like garlic, ginger, lemon grass, chile, lime leaves, etc). The paste I bought is very mulchy and dark, much better than that awful “Thai” brand (the tiny glass jar that costs 5 bucks a pop). There is a picture here of some basics I use over and over to cook. From the left to the right: capers, miso paste, tom yum paste for thai hot and sour soup, olive oil, green chile salsa from Bueno, green curry paste, butter (the real kind with cream), veggie stock, red wine vinegar.

Oh so spicy . . .

Labels: bell pepper, coconut milk, curry, shrimp, tofu