← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 1 l water or light vegetable stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised and cut into 4 cm lengths
• 5 slices Galangal
• 6 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, torn, stems removed
• 400 g straw, oyster or king oyster mushrooms, halved or torn
• 8 Cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 5 Bird's eye chilli, bruised
• 4 tbsp lime juice (2–3 limes)
• 1 tbsp Thai chilli jam (nam prik pao), vegan if possible (optional)
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

Method

1. Bring the water to the boil with the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves and simmer for 5 min, until the kitchen smells of citrus.
2. Add the mushrooms and simmer for 3–4 minutes, until tender, then add the tomatoes for the last minute.
3. Turn off the heat. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, chillies and chilli jam, then the lime juice; adding lime off the heat keeps it bright.
4. Taste and adjust: it should be sharply sour, salty and hot. Scatter with coriander and serve with rice.

Tips

• The lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves are there for flavour and are left in the bowl, not eaten.
• Use tamari for a gluten-free soup. Many chilli jams contain shrimp, so check the label to keep it vegan.

Sources

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

ThaiTable ImportFood