Tom Kamin Pak
Tuesday 12 July is the launch of my NEW COMPETITION to win a luxury health spa holiday at my favorite retreat Kamalaya in Koh Samui Thailand. All you need to do is click onto the competition home page on my web site and follow the instructions to enter.
http://www.thehealthychef.com/2011/07/win-a-health-spa-holiday/
In keeping with the launch, I’ll be traveling to Kamalaya next week to participate in 2 wonderful weeks of detox and kickboxing and posting some amazing healthy recipes for health and wellbeing on my site so you can all join in from home and get a little bit of what Kamalaya cuisine has to offer.
This is one of my favorite soups when I go to Kamalaya. It’s called Tom Kamin Pak and the word Kamin is the Thai word for turmeric, the deep yellow-orange spice root that colours and flavours many of the world’s best-loved curries. It also sits high on the list of nature’s most miraculous medicines. Seriously, when you’re talking about food as medicine, turmeric is worth shouting about. The Chinese and Indian systems of medicine have long honoured its powerful healing properties.
600 ml Vegetable stock
1 Carrot
1 small Broccoli
40 g Cauliflower
60 g Asparagus
40 g Mushroom
10 g Shallot
10g Turmeric root, thinly sliced ( available from Asian grocers) or 1/4 tsp ground tumeric
10 g Galangal, thinly sliced
10 g Lemon grass, thinly sliced
40 ml Tamarind juice
1 whole seeded Chilli (optional)
2 Kaffir lime leaf, whole
2 g Coriander leaf for garnish
Begin by preparing the vegetables. Cut the carrot in 1 cm thick slices, the cauliflower and broccoli into flowerettes, the asparagus in 2.5cm sticks and the mushrooms into quarters. Slice the shallot.
Heat the vegetable stock in a saucepan until it begins to simmer. Add the tamarind juice.
Put the galangal, lemongrass, chilli and kaffir lime leaf into a tea infuser, and drop into the simmering stock for 2 minutes. (If you don’t have a tea infuser, a small muslin bag or bouquet garni bag will work equally well – you just need something that will allow the colour and flavour to release and make it easy for you to separate the spices from the vegetables.)
Next, add all of the vegetables and the mushrooms to the soup, and allow to cook through lightly for about 2 minutes. Vegetables still have to have some crunch.
Remove the tea infuser or bag with the spices and discard.
Serve, garnished with coriander.
Serves 2
Symbols: Detox, Vegan, Low GI
Food note:
Fresh turmeric root is not always readily available in the West, however it’s well worth tracking down. You should be able to find it in Asian grocery stores or specialist fruit and veg outlets. Besides using it in cooking, you can also add it to juices. In Indonesia, it is a common Jamu (tonic), made by juicing the root and mixing with water, lemon juice and honey.
Food note: to add protein add 300 g firm fish fillet (cut into chunks) or free range / organic chicken breast or tofu.
