Tom Yum Soup for Snowy Days

So, you say Boston is going to get yet another winter storm this weekend, huh? At this point, I think I finally reached the last stage of grief – acceptance. That’s right, this has been one s*%tty winter and I am now okay with that. . . now.

Look on the bright side, I not only learned new phrases, I lived them. Things like “ice damn,” “arctic conditions,” and “parking ban” come to mind.  However, despite leaking walls, salt crusted cars, strained back muscles and frozen finger tips, we can all later look back and say, “You know, back in 2015, I lived through the snowiest winter on record in Boston. The city came to its knees.”  Well, we haven’t yet hit the snowiest record, but I am keeping the faith assuming we will.

The other day, I had the hankering for some Thai food, but given said parking ban, I was only going to get it if I made it myself. So, with time being holed up in my house, I thought a hot and spicy Tom Yum soup seemed fitting for a snowy day.

Tom Yum soup is a pretty simple soup in a fish stock base. However, it usually requires some pretty special fresh ingredients like lemongrass stalks, galangal, thai chilis and kefir lime leaves.  It also is best with oyster mushrooms and fresh shrimp. Given there was 86-inches of snow on the ground and the next 10-inches were in the process of depositing themselves, I opted to make due with what I had. Luckily, I had just stocked up on many dried ingredients plus some dried seaweed to boost the umami. Tom Yum also doesn’t usually have noodles, but there is nothing more warming than a noodle soup. So, I added some nice chewy, dried udon noodles.

Tom Yum(ish) Winter Warmer Soup

Ingredients

3 cups fish stock (I make mine with fish bones and heads)
1T Sea Salt
1×4-inch piece of dry kombu seaweed
2 T dried wakame seaweed
1t galangal root powder
1-1/2t lemongrass powder
1t ginger root powder
5-10 dried Thai chile peppers
1 star anise pod
2 carrots thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced half-moons
firm tofu cut into 1x1x1/2 inch cubes (I used half of one of these packages)
1 lb medium shrimp (I used raw frozen shrimp)
zest and juice from one lime
4oz dried udon noodles (I like these)
1 egg per bowl.
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Crush the Thai chile peppers in a mortar and pestle. Combine the stock, salt, dried kombu, dried wakame,  galangal powder, lemongrass powder, ginger powder and anise pod in a medium sauce pan. Heat over high heat until boiling. Boil until the seaweed is softened.
2. Reduce heat to medium (lightly simmering). Add the carrots, onion and tofu to the stock. Cook at a light simmer for 30 minutes until carrots are tender.
3. While stock is cooking, prepare the udon and eggs.
   1. Boil according to directions. Drain and run under cool water to stop cooking. Arrange the noodles in bowls.
   2. Boil eggs according to preference. For medium boiled eggs, place eggs in pot and cover with cold water. Heat on high. Once boiling, turn off heat, cover and leave for 6-7 minutes. drain water and submerge in cold water. Peel and set aside.
4. Add the shrimp, lime juice and zest to the stock and cook for 5 minutes. Just enough to cook the shrimp thoroughly.
5. Adjust the flavor with salt, pepper, chiles and additional dried ingredients according to preference.
6. Ladle hot soup over noodles, top with egg and split to expose yolk.