Thai Soup (Tom Yum)

As far as soups go, this is my favourite.

You are probably familiar with the Thai soup that incorporates coconut milk and lemon-grass. It's commonly known as Tom Kha Gai soup and blasphemous as it may sound, I don't like it because I am allergic to coconut.

You have probably have noticed by now, lemony flavours are special to me. Therefore the other, slightly lesser famous variant, Tom Yum, appeals to my taste-buds.

I had this soup when I was six years old and there has been nothing to beat this delicious, steaming concoction, specially on a rainy and/or chilly winter night. I male this frequently (though never end up noting it down, thanks to my horrific busy schedule) and last time when I made it, I had a sore throat. Interestingly (although predictably), it helped soothe my throat.

There are a number of great versions available online but I wanted something that reminded me of the first time I tasted this soup in my hometown. It's Indianised, no doubt, but it's gorgeous! This is my version through repeated trials (based on the varieties I've tasted in Kolkata, India) and it comes really, really close to those.

PS: It's also a good way to get mushroom haters (like my brother) eat mushrooms.

Thai Soup with a Citric Flavour

I am a huge fan of Chinese recipes. Be it eating out or takeaways, I'm always in. I love how something so simple as the garlic and the spring onions work together to create something so delicious – albeit with a few little tweaks – creating hundreds of delicious and sumptuous dishes that always succeed to fail my health (read weight loss) mission. And along with it, I must mention two other similar genre: the  Thai and  the Tibetan recipes.

Today, I am going to share a recipe, very popular with the Chinese restaurants around Kolkata and a very dear favourite of mine. I have not accomplished the recipe perfectly but this is as close as I can get to it right now. If I revise it further, I'll be sure to update it. I highly doubt if this is an authentic Thai dish to start with. I personally believe the restaurants serve an Indianised twist on the original recipe and I have tried to follow what I had at a number of Chinese restaurants around the city.