Ramadan food: 30-minute Tom Yum Soup

When it is time to break the fast, it is best to ease into eating, rather than going straight for a full-on meal. After having a few dates with tahini or yoghurt, the next best thing to east into eating with is soup. But after a week, sometimes inspiration runs thin for this Ramadan staple. Here we present a soup-a-day to help with culinary brain-freeze during the Holy Month.

30-minute Tom Yum Soup

Ingredients
About 1.5 litres of water
Thumb size chunk of galangal
8 kaffir lime leaves
4 stalks of lemongrass
8 cloves of garlic
2 sweet white onions
3 red tomatoes
Red or green Thai chillies, to taste (minimum 1)
Handful of coriander leaves
2-3 handfuls of mushrooms, cleaned
5 limes
2 tablespoons of Thai chilli paste (prik pao) *omit if you cannot find it
1 teaspoon of salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1/4 kilo of raw shrimp or chicken

Method
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Chop galangal into thin slices. Using only the bottom of the lemongrass, stalks (discard tough outer leaves), cut each stalk into 2 – 3 centimetre pieces.
Peel garlic cloves and slice. Chop onions into large wedges.
Cut the three tomatoes into large wedges.
Slice birdseye chillies, between 1 and 20 of them, according to your taste.
Roughly chop a handful of coriander leaves.
Cut mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
Cut the limes and squeeze the juice into a separate bowl.
Once the water has come to a light boil, add galangal, lemongrass, garlic, to the pot.
Crush the kaffir lime leaves with your hand and add to the pot along with two heaping tablespoons of roasted prik pao chilli paste.
Stir and bring to a boil. Add two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt.
Stir and boil for another two minutes, then add chillies.
Return to a boil and then add the shrimp.
Stir, then add mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes.
Cook for about five minutes more, then add two tablespoons of fish sauce.
Boil for another two to three minutes, then add lime juice.
Cook over high heat for another three minutes, stirring frequently.
Taste and adjust seasonings. Remove from heat and add chopped coriander leaves.
Finally add the handful of chopped cilantro to the pot.
Serve with additional lime wedges and hot chilli sauce on the side.