Recipe

Tom yum with tofu puffs

Thai hot-and-sour soup on Mae Ploy paste. 50 g of paste and 500 ml of water per serving, lime off the heat, fish sauce last.

A bowl of tom yum with fried tofu and mushrooms, topped with coriander

Ingredients

Amounts for two servings with rice. The switch scales the ingredients and the shopping list.

There is also a chicken version.

Servings

Broth

  • 1 lwater
  • 1chicken stock cube, at half strength
  • 100 gMae Ploy tom yum paste
  • 2lemongrass stalks
  • 5kaffir lime leaves
  • 3shallots

In the pot

  • 150 gtofu puffs
  • 150 goyster mushrooms
  • 8cherry tomatoes
  • 2red chillies

To finish

  • 3 tbspcoconut milk, just enough to taste it
  • 1lime
  • 1½ tspfish sauce, only if needed
  • 1 handfulfresh coriander

Alongside

  • 1–1½ cupsjasmine rice, in rice-cooker cups of 180 ml

Method

About 20 minutes for the soup. The rice takes about 40, so it goes on first. The simmering times stay the same at every size; a fuller pot only takes longer to boil.

  1. Rice40 min

    Rinse the rice and start it on the Long Grain setting. Start the soup about 20 minutes later.

  2. Brothto the boil

    Bring the water and stock cube to the boil. While it heats, bash the lemongrass along its length with the back of a knife and cut it into 4–5 cm pieces, tear the lime leaves in half without the tough central vein, and halve the shallots. Add each as it's ready.

  3. Infuse5 min

    Simmer gently. Meanwhile, tear the mushrooms into bite-size pieces, halve the tomatoes and slice the chillies, and halve the tofu puffs so the broth can get inside.

  4. Paste

    Stir in the paste until it dissolves, then add the chillies.

  5. Mushrooms4 min

    Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and tofu puffs, pressing the puffs under so they soak up broth. Simmer until the mushrooms are soft and the tomato skins split. Meanwhile, juice the lime and chop the coriander.

  6. Finishoff the heat

    Take the pot off the heat and stir in the coconut milk and the lime juice. Taste, then add fish sauce only if it needs salt. Coriander on top, rice alongside. The lemongrass and lime leaves stay in; eat around them.

Seasoning

It should taste sour and salty first, with heat behind.

  • Paste: 50 g per serving, so 100 g per litre of water. 80 g per litre tasted thin.
  • Stock cube: half strength, because the paste is about 10% salt. That is one cube per litre if the pack says one per 500 ml.
  • Fish sauce: 1 tbsp per litre was right with 80 g of paste. With 100 g, start with about 1½ tsp per litre.
  • Lime: half a lime per serving was enough. Always off the heat: boiling dulls its fresh taste.
  • Heat: one red chilli per litre was barely noticeable, so it's now two. For real heat, use bird's eye chillies (small, very hot Thai chillies) instead.
  • Coconut milk: about 1½ tbsp per serving gives the broth body. That makes it nam khon (the creamy style); much more turns it into tom kha (Thai coconut soup).

Shopping

The fresh things come from Albert Heijn; the paste and seasonings are pantry items. Amounts follow the servings switch.

Servings

Albert Heijn

  • Oesterzwammen (oyster mushrooms), 150 g
  • Citroengras (lemongrass), 2 stalks
  • Cherrytomaten (cherry tomatoes), 8
  • Sjalotten (shallots), 3
  • Rode pepers (red chillies), 2
  • Limoen (lime), 1
  • Koriander (coriander), 1 bunch
  • Kokosmelk (coconut milk), the smallest pack
  • Kippenbouillonblokjes (chicken stock cubes), the minder zout (reduced-salt) kind if there is one

At home

  • Mae Ploy tom yum paste (100 g), fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves (frozen are fine), jasmine rice

From an Asian supermarket

  • Tofu puffs, 150 g, often in the fridge or freezer section
  • Laos (galangal, a sharper, piney relative of ginger) (optional). The paste already contains it.
  • Canned straw mushrooms (optional), the Thai standard in place of oyster mushrooms

What to look for

Tofu puffsDeep-fried, hollow and spongy. Halve them so the broth gets inside.
Oyster mushroomsOesterzwammen at AH. Tear them into bite-size pieces.
Kaffir lime leavesTear out the tough central vein before they go in.
Tom yum herbsAs sold in Thailand: lemongrass bundled with galangal and kaffir lime leaves.
Small red chilliesBird's eye type like these are much hotter than large red chillies.
ShallotsSjalotten. Peel and halve them.

Serving

Eaten with jasmine rice, as one dish among several rather than as a starter.

  • Rice: about ½–¾ of a rice-cooker cup per serving, on the Long Grain setting, about 40 minutes.
  • Noodles: as kuay teow tom yum (kuay teow means rice noodles), with thin rice noodles, rice vermicelli or egg noodles; rijstnoedels at AH. Cook them separately, put them in the bowl and ladle the soup over. Keep the broth on the strong side, since noodles dilute it.
  • Leftovers: the lime fades in the fridge, so add a fresh squeeze when reheating. The tofu puffs keep soaking up broth.
  • Oyster mushrooms: keep about 3–5 days in the fridge, in their own box or a paper bag.