Fiery and very spicy shrimp soup Tom Yam Kum, Madura style

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 40 fresh shrimp(s) with shell (length with head: 8 – 10 cm)
• 40 g galangal, fresh or frozen
• 40 g ginger, fresh or frozen
• 2 stalks lemongrass, fresh
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen
• 4 small red chili peppers (cabe rawit merah)
• 200 g mushrooms, fresh or from the can
• Fish sauce to taste
• 500 g water
• 250 g carcass(s) (fish and/or shrimp carcasses), alternatively liquid fish stock in a jar
• 8 tbsp fish sauce (kecap ikan)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (saus tiram)
• 5 tomatoes, fully ripe
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 6 small onions, red
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves, fresh
• 4 small green chili peppers (Cabe Rawit Hijau)
• 2 salami leaves, fresh or frozen
• 4 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen
• 1 m.-large turmeric leaf, fresh or frozen
• 2 lemons, only the juice
• 40 g lemongrass, fresh or frozen
• 5 cardamom pods
• 2 tbsp instant chicken broth

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

A shrimp soup that tastes particularly delicious thanks to the spice leaves.

Rinse the fresh prawns with cold water. Remove the heads and chitinous shells. Leave the last segment, including the tail, attached to the body. Set aside the prawn heads and chitinous shells, along with the legs (carcasses); do not discard them. Wash and quarter the tomatoes. Trim the ends of the onions and garlic, peel them, and chop them finely. Wash the green chili, remove the stem, and halve them. Wash the red chili, leave them whole, and use the stem. Wash the galangal and ginger root, peel them, and thinly slice them. Wash the leaves and use them whole. Squeeze the juice from the two lemons and discard the peels. Trim the tough stems of the lemongrass, remove the brown leaves, and wash the stalks. Cut 40 grams of lemongrass into thin slices. Cut two stalks crosswise into approximately 5 cm long pieces. Cut the whole mushrooms into pieces. Simmer all ingredients for the broth for 45 minutes. Strain and discard the solids. Add the ingredients for the garnish, except for the shrimp and any red chilies, to the cooked broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with fish sauce. Add the shrimp just before serving; do not simmer them. As soon as they turn pink, ladle the soup into bowls. Add the whole red chilies now, if you didn’t cook them with the soup. Garnish attractively and serve. Serve with a fresh baguette. Enjoy! Note: This soup originated in Thailand. Due to its balanced flavor and, despite its spiciness, has now conquered restaurants across Asia. The island of Madura is known for its unusual seasoning techniques. And so the Tom Yang Kum soup tasted best there. In traditional Indonesian cuisine, soups as a starter are virtually unknown. There are perhaps 10 dishes that could be considered soups, but in the truest sense, they are noodle dishes or vegetable side dishes with rice, served with a little more or less liquid. The most famous is bakso (pronounced baso), a glass noodle soup with rubbery dumplings, which is also offered by “hawkers” at lunchtime. Well, with outside temperatures usually above 30 degrees Celsius, you really don’t need soup to warm you up.