My Fast and Tasty Tom Yum Soup

I love the tastes of Thailand and there is nothing more comforting than the hot, sweet, sour and salty tastes of Tom Yum Soup. I love it so much that I've come up with a recipe to whip it up in a jiffy whenever the craving hits me. It's not totally authentic but tastes as close as dammit to the real thing.

INGREDIENTS

2 Tablespoons oil.

2 large Shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed and thickly sliced. If you don't have Shiitake mushrooms you can use button mushrooms or Portobellini  mushrooms.

1 litre chicken stock

4 lime leaves. I keep a jar of dried ones in my cupboard.

1 stalk of lemongrass. cut in half and crushed with a meat mallet (bruised). I do it like this because I hate getting bits of chopped up lemon grass in my mouth. You can keep them in the freezer.

1½  teaspoons grated ginger or galangal if you have it. I also keep ginger root in the freezer in a ziplock bag so it's always on hand.

2 birdseye chillies. I keep some dried in a plastic container. They last forever.

1½ Tablespoons palm sugar. If you only have granulated sugar that's fine, not a train smash.

1½ Tablespoons Fish Sauce.

1 Teaspoon paprika.

4 cloves garlic, minced.

The juice of one juicy lemon, or ¼ cup from a bottle. Or more, to taste.

2 spring onions chopped.

As many prawns as you want.

1 handful of Coriander leaves, finely chopped.

In a pot fry the shiitake mushrooms for a while, to bring out the flavours.
Add the chicken stock, lime leaves, lemongrass, ginger/galangal, chillies, sugar, fish sauce, paprika, and garlic.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins.
Add the lemon juice, spring onions and prawns and allow to simmer for a further 3 mins. Check for seasoning, add the coriander leaves and serve. Oops, this was so good, I was halfway through before I remembered to take a photo.