Fennel Soup

Ingredients; 2 medium sized bulbs of fennel, chicken stock 30 cl, coconut milk 15 cl, light soy sauce 1 tbsp, fish sauce 1 tbsp, kurkuma 3-4 tsp, palm sugar 2 tsp, juice of half a lemon, oil 2 tbsp, chili oil 1 tbsp, fresh ginger 2 cm (peeled, cut in big chunks), tom yam paste 2 tsp (or 1 tom yam stock cube).

Trim and slice the fennel, keep the top green for dressing. Heat a wok, add oil. Stir fry the fennel on low heat until almost soft (add a little water to keep it from burning). Add chicken stock, tom yam paste, ginger and coconut milk, bring to the boil. add soy sauce, fish sauce and kurkuma.
Add the lemon juice and sugar. Taste and add more lemon juice or sugar to your liking.
Serve and dress with the finely chopped green from the fennel and some chili oil.

I add a few shrimp dumpling a few minutes before serving.

Mushroom soup with chili oil and deep fried noodles

Ingredients; 1 red onion, sliced mushrooms 250gr, grilled chicken 150gr ( or egg tofu for vegetarians ), coconut milk 25cl, palm vinegar 2tbsp, palm sugar 2tsp, sambal 1 tbsp, fish sauce 2tbsp, mushroom sauce 1 tbsp, 1 tom yum cube stock or chicken stock, dried noodles 30 gr, sunflower oil 25cl, chili oil, water 30cl

Heat a wok, add 2 tbsp of sunflower oil. Add sambal and stir fry for 1 minute, add finely chopped onion and fry until soft. Now add the coconut milk, water and stock cube and bring to the boil.
Add sliced mushrooms, sugar and vinegar. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile heat the rest of the sunflower oil in a small cooking pot, fry the noodles for 1 to 2 minutes and place on some kitchen paper to absorb the oil.
Add fish sauce, mushroom sauce and the diced chicken to the soup. Bring to the boil and add more fish sauce or vinegar if you like. Serve hot, add some drops of chili oil and dress with some crisp noodles.

For a vegetarian version replace the chicken with egg tofu.

Feed me; slowly cooked pork backbone soup !

Delicious, slowly cooked pork backbone soup, what's in a name...

 I'm sure this dish has an unpronounceable Thai name. Only came across it in Nan, Northern Thailand.

Butternut squash soup

Ingredients: 1 butternut squash (2,5 kg), vegetable stock 2 l., onions 2, garlic cloves 8, pepper, salt, olive oil 8 tbsp, chili oil 1-2 tbsp

After washing the butternut cut it in big pieces, take out the seeds. Clean seeds and set aside. Place the pieces of butternut in an oven scale, drizzle with oil and place in a medium hot oven. When almost soft add the oiled garlic cloves (unpeeled).
Fry the seeds in 2 tbsp of olive oil until golden brown. Put them on some kitchen paper.
Slice the onion. Heat 2 tbsp of olive in a cooking pot and glaze the onions .
When the butternut is soft take it out of the oven, scrape the soft flesh from the skin. Put the butternut in the cooking pot. Peel the soft garlic. Add to the cooking pot and cover with vegetable stock.
cook for 5 to 10 minutes and blend it with a mixer. bring back to the boil, add pepper and salt. Add the chili oil. Serve hot, add some of the fried pumpkin seeds.
You can add some shrimps or croutons, or both.

Feed me; wonton soup!

Creating one of my favourite soups, wonton soup. A long time favourite when near Khao san road, only serving in the evening. I don't like what's going on at Khao San Road, but the soup just drags me back onces in a while. Just have a taste....

Feed me; sugar and fish sauce.

On every table and in every soup you're bound to find sugar and fish sauce. A pungent smell at first, the fish sauce but unmistakably Asian. You get used to it fast and it is a very nice condiment. The picture is taken at a lovely restaurant where Thanon Phra Athit turns into Thanon Phra Sumen (close to Phra Sumen Fort). Careful with that sugar, probably already added.

Feed me; Chicken feet

  

Chickens at an Asian market. The feet still attached and well presented, as they are a delicacy in most Asian countries. The chicken feet make a delicious gelatinous stock and a fine soup. Not very fond of the chicken feet salad though.

Mushroom soup

Ingredients; 1 small onion, fresh ginger 2 cm, dried shiitake 25 gr, oyster mushrooms 150 gr, champignon mushrooms 150 gr, fish sauce 2 tbsp, 2 red chili's, light soy sauce 2 tbsp, lemon grass 2 stalks, garlic cloves 2, juice of 1 lime, sunflower oil 2 tbsp, palm sugar 1 tsp, 3 to 5 lime leaves, vegetable stock 25 cl, noodles 100 gr.

Soak the dried mushrooms in warm water (about 20cl), about 30 minutes.
Chop the onion, chili's and ginger finely. Heat a wok, add oil then the onion, chili and ginger. Fry for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
Poor the dried mushrooms and the liquid into the wok. Add vegetable stock, garlic, fish sauce and soy sauce. Bring to the boil. Squash the lemon grass, add lemon grass, half the lime juice and the sugar to the soup. Boil for a few more minutes and taste. Add more lime juice if needed. Now add the noodles. Boil until the noodles are soft. Turn of the heat and add the shredded lime leaves. Ready to serve.
If you want vegan forget about the fish sauce or replace with mushroom sauce.

Feed me; red pork and wontons

Delicious red pork & won ton soup in Chiang Rai. A light lunch or even as a late night snack.

recipes: tom yum shrimp

Noodle soup with shrimp my way, spicy and a bit sour the way I like it.

Ingredients: sunflower oil 2tbsp., fresh Ginger 2cm, Sambal oelek 1tbsp., sweet pepper 1/2, garlic 2 cloves, springonion 2, Stock from a cube (tom yum flavour), noodles 1 pac (tom yum flavour), shrimp 12, fish sauce 2 tbsp., light soy sauce 2tbsp., lime 1, palm sugar, lime leaves 5, pak soy

Heat the oil and add sambal, fry for 1 min. Ad the roughly shopped pepper and sliced ginger fry for a few more minutes. Then add the stock. Bring to the boil with the spices from your noodles. Next the garlic (just bash it), noodle, shrimp, sugar and lime juice. Taste it and add fish sauce and soy sauce. If you want you can use more sugar or lime. Stop the heat and finish of with the spring onion and the shredded lime leaves. Serve hot with some paksoi or cabbage. Serves two.
It is up to you how sour and spicy you like it.

recipes: Tom Kha with shrimp (koeng)

Ingredients; Lemongrass 1stalk, 3cm fresh ginger, 3 red chili peppers, 4 Kaffir leaves (lime), 400cc stock (1/2 cube fish stock + 1/2 cube tom yum stock), 100gr mushrooms. 1 lemon, fish sauce 3 tbsp, 150 cc coconut milk, 12 big shrimp, 200 gr white fish fillet, 2 springonions, 6 cherry tomatoes, sugar 1 tbsp.

Take a wok or cooking pot and add the stock, chopped ginger, sliced chili peppers, fish sauce and bashed lemongrass bring to a boil. Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, coconut milk, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest let it simmer for a few minutes. Cut the white fish in four even pieces. Up to you if you peel the shrimp or not. Let the fish and shrimp simmer in the soup until ready. Take the soup of the fire and add shredded kaffir leaves and sliced spring onion. Serve with rice.