Tom Yum Soup

A asked for me to try making Tom Yum Soup again (I made it a year ago but forgot to write down what I did, so had to try and cobble together a recipe again using the internet). I think it came out pretty well - I feel like the secret to this soup is to keep tasting and adjusting until you get the balance of sweet, sour, salty and hot that you want. So the recipe below is mostly a guideline rather than absolute measures.

Tom Yum Soup

Ingredients
4 cups stock (I had some pork bone stock, but chicken should be fine too)
3 sticks of freeze dried lemongrass (fresh would be better, I think)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
2 or 3 limes, halved
2 or 3 bird's eye chillies
3 tbsp fish sauce (and more to taste)
1 tbsp sugar
12 raw king prawns
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
250g package of baby corn, cut into small pieces
handful of coriander, minced

Method

Bring stock to a simmer. Add lemongrass, garlic, 2 chillies and fish sauce. Squeeze lime juice into pan (start with two limes, then add more to taste if you want it more sour). Add sugar and taste again - if the broth needs to be more salty, add more fish sauce, if it needs more sweetness, add more sugar, if it isn't spicy enough, add more chillies. Add bell pepper, tomatoes and baby corn and cook for 20 minutes. Taste the soup again for balance of flavors and adjust appropriately. Add chicken and cook for 10 more minutes. Add prawns, cook until all prawns have turned pink, and take off the heat. Ladle into bowls and top with coriander.