By Rachel Zammit Cutajar
Photo by Rachel Zammit Cutajar
This spicy lobster soup can be made with any shellfish or even white fish if you don’t want to splash out on lobster. The big flavours of this Thai soup make it a perfect one-pot meal, ideal for weekday dinners.
Lobster Tom Kha
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 5 spring onions, bottoms and tops divided
- 6 shiitake mushrooms
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 whole lobsters
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- 1 tbsp red curry paste
- 3 sticks lemongrass, finely chopped
- 2 inch piece ginger
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tin coconut milk
- Handful coriander
Method
- Slice the spring onions reserving the tops for garnish.
- Heat the coconut oil and gently fry the bottoms of the spring onions, the sliced shiitake mushrooms and the garlic and fry until fragrant.
- Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and add the lobsters.
- Cook until the tails turn red and remove.
- Cut open the belly and remove the lobster meat from the shells and set aside.
- Place the shells back into the pot and simmer for 30 mins.
- Remove the shells from the pot and add the lime zest, red curry paste, ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar and stir through. Cook for a couple of mins.
- Add the coconut milk and stir though.
- Return the lobster meat to the pot, add the coriander and the tops of the spring onions, reserving a few to garnish.
- Serve garnished with fresh spring onions, red chilli and coriander.