Tom Kha - Sweet and Sour Coconut Soup

I've learned how to make this soup, because I was simply craving Tom Kha soup one day and I didn't feel like ordering take away. Tom Kha soup has many different variations, more and less authentic. I feel like this recipe is somewhere in between, but I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

This soup is usually made with chicken, but I made it with tofu this time. If you want to make it with chicken, you can cut it in small pieces and add when you are at 2nd step and cook it this way (for longer than 5 minutes), then continue with the rest of the recipe. For tofu I think it's best if you add it to the soup at the end of the cooking time or heat it separately on a pan.

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Recipe is for 4-6 servings.

Ingredients :

500 ml of vegetable stock

1 can of full fat coconut milk

5-7 cm of ginger

5 dried kaffir lime leaves

1 stick of fresh lemongrass

2 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use fresh chillies or chilli flakes if you like more heat)

2 medium carrots

1 big parsnip

7-10 closed cup mushrooms

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

juice of 1 lime

salt (to taste, amount depends on how salty your veg stock is)

1 tsp turmeric (optional, I just add it here for colour)

tofu /chicken/rice noodles (optional)

fresh coriander for garnish (optional)

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Method :

1. Wash and peel the carrots, parsnip and ginger. Cut the carrots into short sticks, slice the parsnip and ginger. Wash and slice the mushrooms. Keep all prepared vegetables on the side.

2. Pour your vegetable stock and coconut milk into a pot. Add ginger, lemongrass and kaffir leaves. Keep over low heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Then it's time to add your vegetables, add carrots, parsnip and mushrooms to the pot. Add cayenne pepper, sugar and soy sauce. Simmer over low heat for up to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked.

4. When the soup is ready it's time to season it with lime juice and salt. Season it to taste, you want it to be sour, spicy and sweet. I sometimes add some sesame oil for a bit of extra flavour.

Enjoy!