Tom Yam (or Yum) Gai - Thai spicy (very) chicken and prawn soup

I have made lots of this type of soup from various recipes over the years (I think the best one was from a fellow foodie on the BBC food board called Josh, he traveled a lot in SE Asia and collected a lot of Asian Recipes, his was really authentic.

I have adapted parts from various recipes so I don't know how near a real one it is?

So I started by making a hearty chicken broth, first the base stock was made from:

Stock ingredients

1000g of chicken remains, these are called Hühnerklein in Germany; these are the parts that are left after the chicken farmer has removed the breasts, thighs and wings. I would have got fresh from the market, but it was Tuesday and no market on, this meant frozen !!

1 handful of freeze dried vegetables (Suppengemuse)
1dessert spoon of pepper corns (mixed)
1 piece of mace
1 star aniseed
6 cloves
3 dried bay leaves
a piece of Cinnamon bark

1 piece of ginger (about 1 inch sliced but not peeled)
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 teaspoons of Marigold vegetable stock (or a jar or 2 of pre-cooked hühnerbrühe)
The dark green from a bunch of spring onions (the light green and whites go into the finished soup)

Put the lot into a pressure cooker and pour on enough boiling water to cover, lid on, put on high until it comes up to pressure and then reduce for 1 hour.

Strain through a sieve. This is one very nice Chicken stock and with very little adjustment can be used as the base for many soups, stews, curries and fricassee (it also freezes very well and lends itself to be concentrated) or even freeze into portions (cup size for drinking in winter or ice cube size in freezer bags).

To make the chicken soup

1.5kg boiling fowl (or old cockerel if you can get a one)

Boil the  fowl in the stock, this can be done at a rolling boil skimming the scum from the top, or as I did in the pressure cooker.

When done remove the hen from the liquid, this is one of the best chicken stocks that you will have ever tasted. When cool strip the meat from the hen, discarding all of the skin (we are being healthy), the bones and nasty bits of gristle and feathers.

Strain once again through a fine seive. I got about 3 ltrs of fantastic Chicken soup


Making the Tom Yam paste

This makes a 250ml glass jar
2 stalks of lemon grass, outer hard skin removed, bashed and chopped
2 red chillies deseeded & sliced, (take your pick hot, very hot or seriously mind blowing)
2 Tspns of galangal paste (I couldn't get any fresh)
2 Tspns of coriander paste
3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot, diced
3 kafir lime leaves
Zest of 1 lime
1 piece of palm sugar or a few cubes of raw cane sugar
1 desert spoon of dried shrimps
1 desert spoon heavy soy  sauce
1 Tspn of oyster sauce
1 Tspn of light fish sauce
1 Tspn of Tamarind  paste
1/2 to 1 Tspn of shrimp flavoured chilli powder

Put all into a blender and blitz until it is all a nice fine paste, transfer into a clean sterilised jar, this will keep in the refridgerator for a couple of weeks, when it gets a fur coat on the top sling it!

For the Tom Yam soup

For 2 people as a main course or 4 as a starter:

1 litre of your home made super-dooper chicken stock

2 Tspns of your home made Tam Yam paste ( try it at 2 to start with, you can always add a bit more to suit your taste)

10  shelled large prawns (better if you can get fresh, but frozen will do at a push)

1 cup full of diced meat from the chicken oops hen (the rest can be put into the remaining stock and frozen for a rainy day)

2 stalk of lemon grass white only, husked, crushed and very finely sliced

1 clove of garlic sliced
1 piece of galangal (about 2,5 cm) sliced ever so fine (mandolin is good, but watch those fingers)

The remainder from the bunch of spring onions (keep some as a garnish for later)

2 smallish chillis de-seeded and finely sliced

1 bunch of coriander leaves chopped (you can use the stalks and roots in the stock)

140g shiitake mushrooms (if fresh are unavailable try preserved, I did, or use brown cap)

50g of rice noodles,the flat ones (soaked)

6 small red tomatoes, cut into quarters and de-seeded

A small knob of shrimp paste (size of a finger nail) don't worry if you don't have any

Juice of 1 lime (if needed, only add if you think it is not sour enough)

The making of: (I have heard about this malarky in films)


In a clean pan (or better still a large wok with a burnt bottom) heat a little corn oil,  add the garlic along with two tea spoons of the Tom Yam paste (or more you hero) heat through to release the natural oils (don't burn),

add the whites of the spring onions, the lemon grass and the sliced galangal, soften and add 1 litre of the chicken stock, heat through to just below boiling.

Add the shiitake’s, some of the chilli's and tomato's. Add the noodles, the cooked chicken pieces and the shrimp paste. Now the prawns, when heated through (just a couple of minutes, don’t cook for too long they go tough and aren’t all that nice) taste and adjust seasoning with more soy, fish sauce, chilli flakes or lime juice if needed. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, spring onions, sliced chillies.

Serve either in individual soup bowls with spoons or in a terrine for everyone to help themselves ( I often serve side dishes of more chilli flakes, coriander and diced spring onions. As some people (not I) have an aversion to coriander (don't tell them it is in the paste) you can serve the chopped coriander totally as a side dish :-(

I personally think that chopsticks are a must and ideally one slurps from the bowl (bib required). But Chinese porcelain spoons can be used for those not proficient in the use of chopsticks and slurping.

I had my first real taste of Tom Yam in a Hawkers Market below one of Singapore’s department stores! I got my bowl of Tam Yum complete with piles whole prawns, I being young innocent and completely naive (some would say daft), I sprinkled a large amount of crushed dried chillies over the top of what I later discovered was an already well spiced soup, aagghhh *%%!!@@ it almost blew my head off, the Asian Gentleman sitting opposite, look at me in amazement, as the sweat streamed out of my head (and the rest of my body), he kept shaking his head and continued eating his soup, which I must add had far more added chillies than mine. BUT I did finish it, it was another few months before I tried it once again, this time I did not add any extra chillies and found it rather nice, I have now increased my pain level to a point of now being able to eat my Tom Yam soup with a decent amount of fire without causing embarrassment to myself and others:-D

 

Escabeche, Papas Arrugadas with 3 sauces and a bit of a party.

Saturday 3 September

As it was Mariannes birthday and Linda was being released from Hospital, I decided to do something, tasty, but quick and easy to concoct. I made the Moja and Salsa sauce on Friday night, that only left chopping the tomatoes, red peppers and shallots, the sardines and Papas to be made on Saturday, oh and the Aioli!,

Two of the sauces are the two from last weekend that I made to accompany the Cataplana, the other was my standard Aioli. I had bought some nice small potatoes at the market (called little Lindas). I also bought a kilo of sardines, I had hoped to get some of those nice small ones, but alas they had everything from shark to live fresh water crayfish (European not the Signal ones) so it was the large ones or nothing, this does have the plus of being easier to filet.

I had my Saturday matjes brötchen with a cup of coffee, had a chat with Lindas next door neighbour, went to the Turkish barber and set off to prepare the food.

I finished off the Salsa, washed and scrubbed the spuds, filleted the sardines, made the marinade, fried the sardine filets and set them in the marinade, all this while running into the living room to watch Saturday Kitchen . I next went out to pick up Linda from the hospital, got back set the spuds on to boil in plenty of salted water and made the Aioli. Job finished and hoped to catch up with TMS on radio 4 LW guess what? Rain stopped play, I ask you India and rain stops play, no footy, Linda sleeping on the sofa, what a useless Saturday afternoon! so I decided to write up my blog!

First I got all of the ingredients together.
1 Kg of sardines

2 shallots sliced into fine rings

3 cloves of garlic sliced finely
2 Bay leaves
1 red chilli de-seeded, white pith removed and thinly sliced

A few slices of bio-lemon zest
100ml of white wine vinegar
1 Tspn of sweetner (you can use sugar)
A small bunch of mixed herbs (I used rosemary, thyme, small leaf basil)
10 black pepper corns
Flour for dusting
S&P and a sprinkling of dried herbs for the seasoned flour.
Bunch of flat leaf parsley.
Water

Finely slice the shallots and add to the rest of the ingredients in the pan

Measure out 100ml of white wine vinegar (it doesn't have to be from Kühne)




The aromatic ingredients into the the pan with the vinegar

Boil the marinade

Switch off the heat, put the lid on and allow to infuse. When finished taste and adjust the strength by adding water.

Now gut the fish carefully, try to remove the roes whole, cut off the heads and fins, wash under running water, removing the scales (they come off easy, just rub them off).



Slit the de-headed filet down to the tail along the line of the belly opening!, Turn it over and press it firmly onto the work surface (this releases the bones from the flesh), turn over and ease the bones out by holding it onto the work surface skin side down and ease the
backbone from the tailend. Trim the filets scraping the belly flaps clean of residue and bones.

Note the roes, keep these and add to the dish!

The finished trimmed filet

Mix your flour, salt & pepper and mixed dried herbs.

Dust the filets and roes all over with the seasoned flour.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, fry skin down until golden brown, turn and fry for a few seconds (not too long or they will dry out).

Pour a little of the marinade into the base of a shallow dish.

Layer the sardine filets and pour more marinade between each layer.

Finish off with the fried roes and a few fine slices of lemon peel, chilli and parsley, sprinkle with a little extra virgin olive oil. Cover with cling film and allow to marinate for a few hours before serving.

I served this with Moja Verde and Salsa Roja, that I explained in the last post.

Four tomatoes, quartered.

Remove the seeds and inside (this removes some of the liquid)



The diced tomatoes, red pepper and shallot



Add the blitzed sauce.

The Finished Salsa Roja

Then I also made Aioli, my way!

I do mine in a pestle and mortar, this means that I only have this to wash afterwards.

you will require:

1 large clove of garlic (or 2 smaller ones)

1/2 teaspoon of course sea salt

1 large free range egg yolk

150ml of lemon oil (self made a la Linda)

150ml of EVOO

A good splodge of dejon mustard

A sqeeze of lemon juice.(if needed)

Couple of twists of fresh groung black peper

Crush the garlic with the course sea salt into a pulp

Add the egg yolk and mix well together

Start adding in the olive oil (or half olive and half vegetableoil if you're on a diet), drop wise at first then into a trickle.
I used 50% pure olive oil and 50% of Lindas lemon infused olive oil

Add the mustard and the lemon juice (this will slacken the Aioli)

The finished sauce here you can adjust the seasoning, I added a bit of cracked pepper

I am not going to tell you how to boil potatoes, enough to say I used 1kg "kleine Linda", scrubbed, cooked in loads of salt, when done pour off all but 1cm of water and boil vigorously over a high heat until all of the water evaporates, they you go, wrinkly spuds.

No one was expecting Linda to turn up, in fact most thought that she was still in Hospital. She had said that she would only go for an hour (get the grub and run) but lasted the course). We had a nice evening with Marianne, Martin with lots of old friends and met some new ones as well! We had a great slide show (very professional Marianne, I must say) of Mariannes trip to Southern Africa last year. (again hee hee)