Tom Yum Paste

Tom yum paste is an essential content of the wonderful tom yum soup. But the paste is itself so delicious that it can be used as a marinade or even as a sauce. Fish, chicken and pork turn wonderful, when marinated with this paste before baking, frying or grilling. Many readymade pastes are available in the market claiming to make delicious tom yum soup. But freshly prepared home-made paste is much tastier and healthier. Moreover it can be easily made. Your food processor will make a fine paste of the ingredients for you and you have to fry that paste a little, that’s it!

Approximately ¾ cups of paste will be made from 5 flakes of garlic, 4 tablespoons of finely chopped lemongrass, 1 fresh red chilli sliced, 1 ½ inch piece of ginger sliced, 2 shallots, a bunch of fresh coriander leaves (chopped) and stems (chopped), ½ teaspoon of shrimp paste, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of palm sugar or brown sugar, 2-3 spring onions sliced, ¼ cup fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt. You can also add ½ tablespoon of coconut milk, if you want your tom yum paste thin; don’t add it, if you want the paste thick. Instead of fresh red chilli, ½ to 1 teaspoon of dried crushed chilli or cayenne pepper too can be used. Coriander leaves are nice for garnishing the soup and stems can be ground to paste, so they should be chopped separately. Lemongrass can be taken fresh or frozen and is available at Asian food stores. Fish sauce and shrimp paste too are available at Asian food stores.

Grind all these ingredients to a fine paste in your food processor. Fry this paste for 4-5 minutes in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Keep on stirring. When a nice aroma is given out, turn the fire off. Just 10 to 12 minutes for all this and your are done! For making soup, you will have to boil some nicely made chicken stock and to a pot of such stock, you have to add some spoons of this paste. Go on adding a little amount of paste, every time checking the taste, till the soup gives the flavor of your choice. A good alternative to adding more salt is adding fish sauce. Shrimp, tofu and vegetables of your liking can be added now, after which coconut milk can be added to make a yummy creamier soup.

With this paste, 6-8 pieces of fish or chicken can be marinated. Shrimp, any other shellfish and even pork turns yummier with this paste. Actually, you need not wait for the fish or seafood to get marinated; after spreading the paste, you can cook them immediately.

Tom yum paste can be eaten even as a sauce. And it can also be made into another yummy dish just by adding ¾ tablespoon of coconut milk and warming it a little to keep its saucy flavor as it is. Rice of potatoes will taste delicious, when you will add this new dish to them.

By: m2webseo

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Tom Yum soup is a delicious, incompatible Thai soup. The Tom Yum recipe allows you different variations. Adding the optional ingredients like Tom Yum Paste will give it a more authentic taste.