Tom Kha Tofu

This is one of my favourite Thai soups, spicy, sour, slightly creamy and fragrant. It's simple to make and you can add whatever veg you happen to have, broccoli, sugar snap, mange tout, French beans, carrots, peppers, beansprouts, whatever you fancy. The Tofu is not compulsory but I like it. If you would like to make it more filling, you can serve it with rice or add noodles.

SERVES:
4

Ingredients
Instructions

Ingredients

Broth

2 inch piece of ginger sliced

2 lemon grass stalks, white parts chopped into 3 and bashed.

1 bunch of coriander, stalks only roughly chopped

2 garlic gloves roughly chopped

1-2 red chilli roughly chopped (the mild medium sized kind not a birds eye or scotch bonnet)

1 shallot roughly chopped

3-4 lime Kaffir leaves

4 medium tomatoes quartered

1 lime zested

2 tins full fat coconut milk

500ml boiling water

1 vegetable stock pot/ stock cube

2 tbsp. vegetarian fish sauce

2 tbsp. tamari

Juice of a 1-2 lime

Pinch of salt

A good grind black pepper.

Soup

280g block extra firm tofu cubed

300g mushrooms

4 medium tomatoes quartered

2 handfuls bean sprouts

300g mixed veg of your choice, I used baby corn courgette and mange tout.

Handful coriander leaves

2 limes quartered

1 chilli sliced

Noodle or rice (optional)

Instructions

Start by making the broth, in a large saucepan add the ginger, coriander stalks, garlic, shallots, chilli, lime leaves and 2 tbsp. neutral oil. Fry on a medium heat until fragrant, and the garlic and shallots have softened.
Add the quartered tomatoes, and lime zest, give it another stir and fry for a minute or two.
Add the 2 tins of coconut milk, boiling water and vegetable stock pot. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.
Add the tamari, veggie fish sauce, lime juice salt and pepper. Stir to combine and taste. It might need more tamari or lime juice.
Leave on a low simmer for all the flavours to mingle and infuse into the broth for 15 minutes.
Prepare your vegetables whilst you wait. And fry your tofu cubes in a neutral oil with salt and pepper until crisp on the outside.
When youâ€™re ready to serve, strain the broth through a sieve into a bowl and return the smooth broth back to the pan.
Add the mushrooms, the other 4 quartered tomatoes and tofu. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, before adding the rest of your vegetable, just a few minutes before serving. Check for seasoning once more.
Serve in bowls with coriander leaves, sliced chilli and extra lime to squeeze.