← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp uncooked sticky rice, soaked for 30 min
• 300 g bamboo shoot strips (tinned or vacuum-packed), rinsed and drained
• 1 l Water
• 200 ml yanang leaf juice (frozen), or extra water (optional)
• 1 Lemongrass, bruised and cut into lengths
• 3 Shallot, smashed
• 3 Bird's eye chilli, bruised
• 2 tbsp Pla ra (Thai fermented fish sauce), bottled
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 150 g enoki, oyster or straw mushrooms
• 150 g courgette or sponge gourd, cut into chunks
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 handful lemon basil (or Thai basil)

Method

1. Drain the soaked sticky rice and pound it in a mortar into a coarse, wet paste.
2. Boil the bamboo strips in plenty of water for 5 min, then drain; this tames their sharp smell.
3. Bring the water (and yanang juice, if using) to the boil with the lemongrass, shallots and chillies. Add the bamboo and simmer for 10 min.
4. Stir in the rice paste, pla ra and fish sauce and simmer for 5 min, stirring often so it doesn’t stick, until the soup turns slightly thick and silky.
5. Add the mushrooms and courgette and cook for 3–4 min until tender. Taste for salt; it should be savoury, earthy and spicy.
6. Turn off the heat, stir in the lemon basil and serve hot with sticky rice.

Tips

• Yanang leaves give the soup its green colour and gentle bitterness; look for frozen packs of yanang juice in Thai shops.
• Use bottled, pasteurised pla ra sauce rather than raw fermented fish.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Hungry in Thailand Simply Suwanee