Wynette Richards

Thai Hot and Sweet and Sour Soup

The Recipe

Quantities are approximate. Feel free to tweak.

• 1-1/2 quart chicken or vegetable broth. (Be careful that it's not too salty. Here's a way to make your own chicken broth.)
• 1 T. soy sauce
• 2 T. fish sauce (optional, but if don't have fish sauce use extra limes)
• 1 T. Thai Kitchen red curry paste or 1 T. Kinna's Laos Chile Paste or something similar (1 to 3 tsp of good red chile powder works fine)
• 3 T. sugar
• 1/4 t. salt (use only if needed and if broth is not already salty)
• juice of 2 limes (or more if don't use fish sauce)
• 14 oz. can of coconut milk

• peanut oil (use canola oil if don't have peanut oil, but peanut oil adds to the flavor)
• a few drops of toasted sesame oil (optional)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
• approx. 1 pound of sauteed tofu or roast chicken cut into bite size pieces (we like it with chicken prepared this way)
• 3 oz dry thai rice noodles

• 2 to 4 cups broccoli (other veges would probably work well, too)
• lime wedges (or lemon works ok if you don't have lime)
• fresh thai basil (optional but highly recommended)
• fresh chopped tomatoes (optional but highly recommended)
• fresh cilantro (optional)

1. Put all the broth ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil while doing the rest of the steps.
2. If you are using tofu, slice it into 1/2 inch cubes and brown it slowly in a skillet in canola or peanut or olive oil till lightly browned. Stir frequently. This can cook while you are doing steps below.
3. Sautee onions and garlic in the oil until golden. Add to the broth when done.
4. Very lightly sautee the broccoli in the onion pan. Add more oil if needed.
5. Taste the broth and add more cayenne, chile, salt, lime/lemon, and/or sugar if you want the broth to be hotter or saltier or sourer or sweeter.
6. Add the dry noodles to broth and cook a minute or two, till almost done but not quite. Stir well so they don't clump together.
7. Stir in the tofu or chicken.
8. Bring back to a boil and cook till noodles barely done.
9. Eaters might want to stir in a little more lime/lemon/sugar/salt/chile and also throw in a few cilantro or thai basil leaves. So, you might want to put these on the table: basil, cilantro, extra lime or lemon wedges, sugar, chile powder. (We use chipotle powder and it works quite well.)
10. Note that we don't put the broccoli into the soup but serve it on the side to stir into the soup at the table. The leftover soup keeps a lot better without the broccoli in it.