Our Dishes around the World series is aimed at helping you, the caterer, restaurateur, street food artist, cafe, bar, pub, club and the rest get more from your menu.

The Great British palate has changed more in the last 10 years than at probably any other time in history. The people want high quality grub from all over the globe.

This time around, we highlight Tom yum soup. A Thai soup that is just as popular in neighbouring Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.

Combining sweet and sour spiciness into a distinct dish with a a broth that exudes fresh flavours.

Variations of the dish where the ‘meat’ portion is substituted for a regional alternative are commonplace, with fish comprising of most of the concoctions.

Ingredients

• 1 litre/2 pints chicken stock
• 300ml/11fl oz water
• 6 sticks lemongrass, lightly crushed
• 4 fresh coriander roots, crushed
• 110g/4oz fresh galangal, peeled and sliced (available from Asian supermarkets)
• 8 tomatoes, cut into quarters, seeds removed
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 1-2 limes, juice only
• 75ml/3fl oz tamarind water (is available from Asian supermarkets. Soak the tamarind in hot water and push the pulp through a sieve to make tamarind water.)
• 3 red chillies, thinly sliced
• 75ml/3fl fish sauce oz (nam pla), or to taste
• 75g/3oz palm sugar (available from Asian supermarkets), use brown sugar if unavailable
• 12 raw tiger prawns, shelled, gutted and split in half
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Method

1. Place the stock and water into a large pan over a high heat and bring to the boil.
2. Add the lemongrass, coriander roots, galangal, tomatoes, lime leaves, lime juice, tamarind water and red chillies. Return to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
3. Taste the stock and add as much fish sauce and palm sugar as necessary to keep the salty-sour-hot-sweet taste, then remove from the heat.
4. Transfer 220ml/8fl oz of the stock into a separate pan over a high heat and bring to the boil. Add the chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the prawns and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until completely cooked through.
5. To serve, pour the soup into two bowls and top up with the hot stock. Garnish with Thai basil, coriander and a wedge of lime.
6. Enjoy!

One of the finest and most popular dishes in the East Asian region. Refreshingly spicy but also moreish.

We must recommend our range of soup bowls which are perfect for serving up Tom yum soup, with handles to slurp up the delicious, delicious broth. Did we mention it was delicious?

Although traditionally Tom yum is served with chopsticks, and we can provide them, we think your guests are likely to prefer a soup spoon.