Special Sour Orange Soup (Geng Som Pla)

Ingredients:

Soup:

6 cups good-quality chicken or fish stock
2-3 small to medium fillets of sole, snapper, or any
8-10 medium shrimp
juice of 2 oranges, or about 1 cup prepared orange juice
2 tsp. tamarind paste
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. fish sauce
baby bok choy or other Chinese cabbage greens, chopped into smaller
handful of cherry tomatoes
handful of green beans, cut into 2
1 small zuchini, cut lenthwise into thick matchstick-like pieces
3-4 fresh orange slices, cut in half
generous handful of fresh coriander

1 shallot or 1/4 cup cooking onion
1-2 fresh red Thai chiles
1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger
3 cloves garlic
3 kaffir lime leaves, central stem removed
1/2 tsp. shrimp paste
1 Tbsp. fish sauce

Instructions:

First, make the soup paste, either mince and stir all the paste ingredients together by hand, or by place the paste ingredients in a food processor and process well, then set aside.

Place the stock in a soup pot over medium-high heat and add the orange juice, tamarind paste, sugar, fish sauce (4 Tbsp.), plus the paste you just made. Stir well, and when the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium.

Add the firmer of the vegetables first: the beans and the “whiter” parts of the baby bok choy (if you have cut it) or the Chinese cabbage. Allow these ingredients to simmer about 3 minutes, or until the beans have softened.

Add all of the remaining vegetables, plus the fish and shrimp, and simmer for 2-3 more minutes, or until the shrimp are pink and plump and the fish has turned an opaque-white. Tip: Dont over-stir at this point, as this will cause the fish pieces to break up.

Remove the soup from the heat and do a taste-test.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and add several half-slices of orange to each bowl, then sprinkle over the fresh coriander. Note that cooked noodles or rice can also be added if you are serving this soup as the main entree. ENJOY!

Recipe from Darlene Schmidt.