Tom Yum Soup

This week we are having our monthly Mystery Box Madness where we choose from a variety of ten ingredients. This month's ingredients are really interesting:

cabbage

mustard

yogurt

freekeh or bulgur wheat

za'atar

tomatoes

sausage (any kind)

carrots

basil (fresh, dry or any kind)

almonds

Despite the sweltering heat for the week and the breezy weather (sounds ironic right? beats me too), Mr G wanted dinner without any carbs. The most logical dinner would then be a one-dish meal or one-dish soup. The key word here would be spicy. Yes Mr G likes his food hot. Haha!! Yes I did say, food ;P 

I was looking at the various chefs' recipes and found a simple and easy recipe from Nigel Slater. This recipe was found in his Real Good Food: The Essential Nigel Slater. This is for 2 pax so multiply it accordingly for as many pax as you are cooking for. See my modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, skinned

1 litre chicken stock 1 to 1.5 litres water

1 chicken or pork stock cube

2 tbsp tom yum paste (use lesser if you prefer less spicy)

1/2 head cabbage (cut the cabbage into 1 or 1.5 inches thick)

2 carrots (sliced lengthways)

1 packet oyster mushrooms

1 packet enoki or golden mushrooms

1 packet shabu shabu pork or sliced chicken (whichever is your preference)

1 packet sausages (cut each sausage into two)

4 spring onions, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3 small red chillies 4 small green chillies

1 stalk 2 stalks lemongrass (use only the white section and sliced finely)

4 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method:

1. Bring the chicken breast to the boil in the stock, then turn the heat down in a simmer.
2. Cook until the chicken is tender for about 10 minutes. Remove and cut into thin shreds, set aside. 
3. Add stock cube to the water in a pot and let it slowly boil. Add tom yum paste to the stock.
4. Add the spring onions, garlic, lemongrass, chillies and kaffir lime leaves to the broth and simmer gently for another 10 minutes. 
5. Add the cabbage, carrots, sausages, mushrooms, fish sauce, sugar and chicken or pork and simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and the coriander and serve piping hot.

Basically, this Nigel Slater recipe is very much versatile. You can add whatever ingredients you fancy for your tom yum soup as long as you add the usual Thai ingredient 'suspects'.

I think Mr G really likes this soup a lot. As he was eating, I kept asking, is it nice? I heard a few muffles of hmm and then there was silence but sounds of soup being slurped. Haha!! I like that kind of answer. Indeed they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

I'm submitting this post to I Heart Cooking Clubs.

I'm also submitting this post to Cooking with Herbs organised by Karen of Lavender & Lovage.