Thai Tom Yum Goong - Hot & Sour Shrimp Soup

Thai Hot & Sour Soup

Bowl of Tom Yum

The inspiration for this soup came from a friend on Facebook asking for a Hot & Sour Soup recipe which led me to Closet Cooking. We had it for lunch for lunch today which along with an egg roll each, made for a filling and satisying meal. Because some of the ingredients were missing from my pantry, I had to make some modifications so I've described, below, what I did to reproduce the recipe.

The hot part of this soup came from a combination of minced green chilies and gochujang, a Korean chili paste that I love! The sour aspect came simply from the juice of one lime. I dropped the squeezed out rinds of lime into the soup and fished them out before serving. This made up for the absence of lemon grass. 

White Snapper Tel Jhaal - White Snapper in Hot Tomato Gravy

White Snapper Steaks (Bone-In)

I love bone-in fish which is so much tastier than fillets because the bones are where the flavour is concentrated. Notice the small green chilies used as a garnish. They are very hot and I love to mash them into my rice to release their mind-blowing heat.

White Snapper Fillets

When I cook bone-in fish, I always cook filleted fish for my husband. He can't bear to interrupt his eating with 'fishing' out the bones which ruins his dinner! So, in the two photographs above, the sauce/gravy remains the same, but the cut of fish is different. Notice that for my husband, I have used rings of jalapeno peppers whose heat are more tolerable. They are plainly visible and can be removed easily, if necessary.

This was my first try of white snapper and my only complaint was that the texture was 'meaty', much like mackerel. I prefer the softer texture of river fish.

Green Beans Alu Posto - Green Beans & Potatoes in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Green Beans Alu Posto

Green beans are plentiful at the market throughout the year. Make sure to pick up at least a pound because they reduce considerably during cooking. The white poppy seeds need to be soaked in boiling water and left to cool at room temperature before blending to a smooth paste.

Fresh Green Beans

The mound of green beans looks pretty daunting at first, and it would be awfully tedious to remove the stem and tail ends one bean at a time.

Ready to chop

However, they are easily dealt with if they are lined up, ten at a time, and chopped up in batches. Line up the stem ends and remove with one slice of the knife. For this preparation, I cut the beans into small 1/2" lengths and removed the tail ends.

Recycle those Plastic Bags

Here's how I recycle those plastic bags in which vegetables are packed. Lined inside a deep bowl all the vegetable scraps can be disposed of and the bag easily lifted out and thrown away with minimal fuss.

Butter Chicken Masala - Murgh Makhani

Today's chicken dish was fast and easy. One and a half pounds of boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces were browned and simmered in a ready-to-cook butter sauce by Taste of India. 

I'm amazed at the quality of the product. This Butter Chicken tasted better than anything I've tasted at Indian restaurants around here.