Thai Tom YUM Soup!

I am SO excited to share this recipe with you! Like, SUPER DUPER excited. Seriously. I wanted to learn how to make this the SECOND I tasted it in our favorite Thai restaurant. It is a spicy-sour mushroom soup. May not sound like much, but it is WOW. I love it. Especially if you add some shrimp or chicken. And as an added bonus, there are studies being conducted on how this soup is an immune system booster! SAWEET!

Okay, here is the list of ingredients I use. Some recipes online call for fish sauce, or other ingredients, but this is what I used and both hubby and I give it two thumbs up:

• 1 stalk lemon grass

• 3 Kaffir Lime leaves

• 1 lb mushrooms cut into large chunks

• 4 fresh chilies, or 2 Tbsp red pepper flakes (or a couple shots of tabasco - whatever gives you your heat. Fresh chilies are best)

• 2 cups soup stock - (I use vegetable stock, but you can use chicken, or even just water if you want)

• 1 cup coconut milk

• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

• 3 Tbsp Soya Sauce (or fish sauce)

• 1/4 tsp Salt

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

 Okay, obviously the hardest ingredients to find here will be the lemon grass and the lime leaves. Look at your local Asian market for these. We found the lime leaves in a bag in the freezer. Never would have thought to look there! And the lemon grass was in a bunch of about 5 stalks together. You can ask someone who works there. If you can't find these ingredients, use the zest of one lemon, and the zest of 1-2 limes. Got it?

1. pour the soup stock into a medium-large saucepan and set the heat to med-high. You want it to start boiling. 
2. Take your stalk of lemon grass, grab a meat tenderizer and POUND IT BABY! You want to open it up to release those sweet lemony juices. Seriously, smell it. It's like a delicious version of Lemon Pledge. Powerful stuff!

3. Chop the lemon grass into chunks about 2-3 inches in length. I have seen some websites that show to tie these in a bundle with twine - it makes retrieving them out afterward MUCH easier.

4. Put the lemon grass chunks, the lime leaves, and the mushrooms into the boiling soup stock (you can add chicken or shrimp at this point - use precooked chicken, or raw shrimp). Let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the cilantro (i.e. lemon juice, chilies, coconut milk, soya sauce, and salt) Stir to combine.
6. Ladle soup into bowls - being careful to remove lemon grass and lime leaves (these are not to be eaten).
7. Top with fresh cilantro and serve!

This takes literally like 7 minutes to make beginning to end. We always serve this with rice, which we love to add right into the soup. It's delish! I was intimidated at first with the weird ingredients I had to work with, but it couldn't be easier - and the taste? Delish. I hope you try it!