hi again.
you have inspired me to cook thai food for dinner tonight. we are having tom yum gai and kao soi. yummmmmm.

here's my best recipe for tom yum soup. it was given to me by my cooking teacher, somphon nabnian at the chiang mai cooking school in chiang mai (a northern city and very beautiful!) somphon is a fabulous teacher.. . if you ever get that way, do look him up. here goes . . .

11 oz. shrimp, washed, peeled and deveined. keep the peels for making broth.
3 cups water
2 stalks lemongrass, sliced (you may just have to put in lemon slices instead)
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces, discarding the stems
3 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tomatoes, each cut into 8 pieces
5 thin slices of ginza (thai ginger) peeled
3 cups straw mushrooms, cut in 1/2
20 small green chilies
3 tbsp fish sauce (you can substitute a little salt for this)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
coriander, chopped (may be omitted)

put the peelings in a pan with the water and bring to the boil. strain the stock, discarding the peelings.

bring the stock back to a boil and add the lemongrass, lime leaves, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, and ginger and bring to the boil. add the mushrooms and bring back to the boil and add the chilies and the fish sauce. cook 2 minutes, add the shrimp and reheat to boiling.

when the shrimp are cooked, turn off heat and stir in lemon juice. serve garnished with coriander.

*if you do not have shrimp, use chicken stock and add chicken.
also can be made with pork cubes, mixed seafood, or tofu (this is really good)
if you use chicken or pork, add the meat before the mushrooms and cook thoroughly.
*if you dont want it too spicy, reduce the # of chilies, or leave them whole

To be quite honest, the easiest way to cook tom yum is to go to your local asian market and buy a packet of "tom yum" seasoning paste. it will have directions on the paste for making the soup.
Thai people like this REALLY hot and usually add way more chilies than i do.

Sawatdee and have lots of sanuk (fun!)
sara