Hot and sour soup with seafood

This hot and sour soup with seafood is a classic Thai dish, perfect for lunch or dinner.

There are loads of variations of this classic Thai soup; this particular hot and sour soup with seafood is the kind you might find down south by the beach. Use whatever mix of seafood takes your fancy.

Ingredients (serves 4)

500ml water

500ml plain chicken stock

1 tsp of sea salt

1 tsp of caster sugar

10 peeled Thai shallots

5 coriander roots or, if unavailable, a small handful of coriander stem

8 sticks lemongrass, cut into 3in lengths

2 thumb-sized pieces of galangal, cut into 1in-wide slices

5 to 15 green or red bird’s-eye chillies (depending on how hot you like it!)

16 cherry tomatoes

10 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves

4 to 5 tbsp fish sauce

A 500 to 600g mix of seafood (including any firm white fish fillet, sliced into bite-sized pieces; raw prawns, de-shelled but with head and tail left on; cleaned squid or cuttlefish, sliced into bite-sized pieces; cleaned mussels or clams)

Juice of 2 limes

A handful of picked coriander leaves

Method

Bring the water and stock to the boil and season with the salt and sugar.

Using a pestle and mortar, bruise (but don’t completely pulverise!) the shallots, coriander roots, lemongrass and galangal, and add them to the pan to simmer for two to three minutes.

Now bruise the bird’s-eye chillies, lightly squash the cherry tomatoes and slightly tear the kaffir lime leaves. Add all these to the soup, too. Simmer for three more minutes.

Next add the fish sauce, followed by the mixed seafood. Simmer for two minutes, then turn off the heat.

Check the seafood is cooked (you can take a piece out and cut it in half if you are unsure), then add the lime juice and taste to adjust – it should taste hot, sour and slightly seasoned.

Finish by scattering with coriander leaves, and serve.

Recipe courtesy of Singha Beer