Thai tomato lemongrass soup with shrimp

Growing up, we were lucky to have soup with most of our meals, maybe this is why I am obsessed with drinking and making soup! It’s worth all the work. This is my own recipe with inspiration from my mom’s cooking. The lemongrass and lime leaves give the soup a beautiful aroma and flavour.

Serving for 6

Ingredients:

1 package of tiger shrimp-about 15 shrimps, peeled and deveined
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 medium-sized tomatoes-diced
Oil for cooking
1 onion-diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 stalks of lemongrass-cut on the bias, 1 inch long
Green onions (optional)
1 tsp of tomato paste
3 tbsp of fish sauce
Chicken broth -about 16 cups
Keep the shrimp shells for the stock (optional)
Juice of 1 lime
1 Thai chili- sliced
5 kaffir lime leaves
A handful of Thai basil and cilantro

*Once you have the base, you can add in any vegetable or protein to complement the soup. It is a great way to get rid of leftovers. Some suggestions are chicken, mushrooms, carrots, bamboo shoots or red peppers.

*We often add udon or rice noodles in the soup to make it a full meal.

Prep work:

1. Cut all vegetables

2. Peel and devein the shrimp. Rinse the shrimp shells well and keep aside. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil to the shrimp. Mix. Put the shrimp in the fridge until ready to use.

3.  Put the shrimp shells in a cheesecloth and tie them with a string. Set aside.

Cooking Steps:

1. In a medium pot, heat up the oil. Cook the onions until starting to brown, add the garlic. About 5 minutes.

2. Once the onion and garlic is cooked, add in the tomato paste and stir well. It should create a paste-like consistency.

3. Add in the diced tomatoes and the fish sauce. The salt in the fish sauce will break down the tomatoes. Cook for another 5 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down.

4. Add in the chicken broth, lemongrass and lime leaves. Add the cheesecloth of shrimp shells and the 2 thai basil stems and cilantro stems (use the leaves before serving).

5. Boil and then reduce the heat for the soup to simmer. About 20 minutes.

6. Add the Thai chili and lime juice.

7. Taste the soup. Add additional salt, pepper, or fish sauce as needed.

8. Add the shrimp into the soup and cook until it turns pink. Take out and set aside.

9. The soup is ready. Discard the shrimp shells and Thai basil/cilantro stems. Ladle into a bowl, add in the cooked shrimp. Before serving, top with thai basil leaves, cilantro and or green onions.