Tom Yum(mm!) Soup

Also known as 'white milky soup with bits of foreign looking spices in it soup,' Tom Yum is one of those soups that you could never even dream of comparing to any other soup. It's an excellent example of Thai cooking. Coconut, lime, lemongrass and chili to spice it up a little. How could you possibly ask for more?

And it doesn't take very long at all. And it's pretty immediate satisfaction. The only thing that could go wrong is the chicken and that is quite difficult to do in itself.

What you need:

• 2 limes
• 1 can of coconut milk
• Water - about 3 to 4 cups
• Some shrimp or bits of chicken work
• Lemon grass
• Lime leaves
• Fish sauce (couple of tablespoons)
• Chinese chives
• Ginger
• Optional: Galanga root
• Chili (how hot can you go?)

Alright, again pretty standard ingredients. Some stand out; lime leaves are a great addition, makes everything smell amazing. And of course, my all time favourite ingredient lemon grass.

1. Boil water in a sauce pan.

2. Add lime juice and leaves, fish sauce. Chop up chicken or simply add the shrimp.

3. Chop Chinese chives, chili, diced ginger and galanga root and add to the pot.

4. Beat up the lemon grass with a knife. Don't chop it, just beat it for the flavour to be released and pop it into the probably already amazingly smelling broth.

5. Add the coconut milk.

Make sure the meat (chicken or shrimp) doesn't get too tough. Chicken can become too tough if it boils in the water for too long.

And you probably don't need reminding that chilies are hot. I personally added just one, and it was quite the sweaty, heated experience already.