Dinner plans

Tomorrow I’m “hosting” a dinner for seven.  Our friend Liz just had her baby and we thought it’d be fun to get together and have some food.  She wanted to try the Thai Beef in Lettuce, so I’m making a Thai night out of it.  I’ve got the beef all ready and most of the stuff prepped.  I still need to prep the “rice” and get a cucumber.  The starter will be a Tom Yum (Hot and Sour ) soup.  It should be really good.  The base is sitting in the fridge now with the lemongrass and limes marinating away.  I don’t have any chili paste, but opted to make my own.  (Chilis, oil, salt.  How can you go wrong? )  For dessert, I’m thinking something basic, like oranges in a simple syrup.  There’s a great baked pineapple recipe I found, but that takes an hour!!  Another time though, definitely.

At any rate, here’s the Tom Yum soup recipe.  It’s from Thai Kitchen, but I’ve definitely strayed from this.  It needed much more in the way of veggies and stuff like the “normal” soup I’m used to.

Tom Yum Hot & Sour Soup

12 oz. chicken, or cleaned shrimp, shelled and

  deveined, or firm tofu, strained and cubed

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 pieces fresh lemongrass (tender bottom 2/3 inch of stalk only)

2-3 Tbs. Thai Kitchen Premium Fish Sauce

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)

1” piece fresh galangal (Thai ginger) or Chinese ginger,


  sliced and bruised

2 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. Thai Kitchen Roasted Red Chili Paste

1 (15 oz.) can straw mushrooms, drained

Optional garnish: sprigs of fresh cilantro

Bone and skin the chicken; cut into large pieces. In a large pot, combine the stock, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add roasted red chili paste and stir well to incorporate. Add the mushrooms and the chicken and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until chicken is cooked. (If using shrimp or tofu, simmer for an additional 10 minutes then add into soup. Cook until shrimp turns orange-pink in color or tofu is tender, about 1 to 2 minutes.) Remove lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal from soup before serving. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.