Tasty Tom Yum Soup

Today I’m making Tom Yum soup for lunch because its spiciness is great on this cold and rainy weather. Besides, I bought a bunch of wansoy from the grocery two days ago for this recipe so before the leaves expire, I better use them. I also want to try the Tom Yum paste that we bought from the Duty Free store in the Suvarnabhumi Airport in place of chocolates (grr!). This recipe is much like the Filipino sinigang but with added flavor of lemon grass and wansoy. I’m sharing my simple recipe, the taste of which is similar to what we have tasted in the restaurant at MBK Mall in Bangkok and at Jatujak Restaurant here in Manila. The authentic soup has galangal but the root is not available everywhere here and even if it is, I wouldn’t dare use it because I don't like its smell.

Ingredients:

Onion, quartered
Tomato, quartered
Lemon grass or tanglad (cut off the leaves to use only the solid portion several inches from the root end. Slice diagonally and pound a bit to release the oil)
Kaffir lime (I use dried leaves, particularly that of the Thai Heritage brand sold in grocery stores)
Water
Tamarind flavoring/cube or sinigang sa sampaloc mix (if u don't have lime)
Fish fillet, cut into cubes
Squid, sliced into rings
Shrimp, removed from shell
Mussels, cleaned
Wansoy (similar to Chinese selery but with a lime-lemony taste)
Fish sauce (patis)
Red chillies (siling labuyo)

Put the onion, tomato, lemon grass, kaffir lime, water and tamarind/sinigang mix in a pot to simmer. Add the fish, squid, shrimp, wansoy and flavor with fish sauce and chillies and simmer for about 1-2 mins or until the seafoods are tender. I don’t overcook them because they become chewy. The wansoy, I noticed, lose flavor when boiled longer so I recommend adding them with the seafood minutes before turning off the heat.

Enjoy the soup!