On a cold cold day... serve up Thai Hot Pot Soup with crispy Tofu and Shrimp

A few years ago while visiting Thailand, I was lucky enough to participate in a traditional Thai cooking class. This was amazing since I had already spent a week feasting on delicious and tasty nibbles throughout the country. One thing I learned is that the best places to eat are found in the little stands that are hidden in various alleys and streets.
Street cuisine is fresh, fast and tasty. And with our cold blistering windchill of a -25 days, a nice steaming Thai hot pot soup should do the trick.

Now, I call this a Thai Hot Pot soup instead of some authentic Thai name since I'm using the "elements" of Thai cuisine rather than an authentic recipe.

I first want to talk about some of the great vegetarian alternatives there are out there. In this recipe I used Pete's Tofu2Go Tasty Thai and McCormick's All Vegetable Chicken Stock.
I'm not a huge fan of Tofu since I can never get the flavour to properly infuse the Tofu. Pete's Tofu (or anything else like this ) is great since they mould the Tofu with the flavours inside. To add a different dimension, I also pan fried strips of this tofu to give it a crispy coating.


Thai Hot Pot Soup with Crispy Tofu and Shrimp

Crispy Tofu

1. Slice the Tofu into strips
2. Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan with about 3-4 Tbsp of vegetable oil
3. When oil is shimmering, quickly take your tofu and dab in flour. Be sure not to do this flour step too early or the flour will get gummy
4. Fry Tofu for 2 minutes per side until golden brown
5. Transfer to paper towel lined plate
   
   
   

Thai Hot Pot Soup

• 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp each of minced garlic and ginger
• 1 Tbsp each of minced green onions, coriander and mint
• 1/2 can of coconut milk
• 1 stalk of lemongrass (if not available half of one lemon)
• 1/2 Tbsp of Thai Green curry paste
• 6 cups of All Vegetable Chicken Stock
• 1Tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 cup of diced Butternut Squash
• 1 cup of diced Sweet Potato
• 1/2 cup of baby corn or corn kernals
• 1/2 cup of snow peas, cut in half
• 1/2 package of rice noodles
• lime zest

1. Heat up oil in large dutch oven. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute
2. Add lemongrass/lemon, green curry paste and brown sugar and cook another minute
3. Add squash, potato and cook until softened (3-4 minutes)
4. Add stock and coconut milk, bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes
5. Add snow peas, corn, coriander and mint. Add rice noodles. Continue simmering for a few more minutes.
6. When ready to serve, fish out lemongrass/lemon. Add zest of lime.

Shrimp

In a small bowl, melt 1/2 Tbsp of butter. Add zest juice of lime/ and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Add to shrimp and toss to coat. Grill or pan cook shrimp.

Assembly

In a bowl, arrange Crispy tofu and tofu/shrimp. Top with hot soup.

Crispy Tofu for Vegetarian Thai Hot Pot Soup

Thai Hot Pot Soup with Crispy Tofu and Shrimp