Thai Lemongrass & Shrimp soup

It's winter, its rainy & snowy, its soup season. The initial insiration for this soup was to diversify. Try a new idea, make something different, yet with familiar tastes. The starting flavor base was lemongrass. To start, I added some chili paste, ginger, lemongrass, jalepenos, and green onions to a pot to brown and release their flavors.


Then stock was added. I had some fish stock made from shrimp in the freezer. About 5 cups were added to the pot.  This was then simmered for about an hour or so. A little bit of soy sauce and mirin was added to help the salt level of the soup. During the cooking, I added a little bit of brown sugar and a bit more ginger.  

Once at a point where I felt good about the flavors, I started prepping the ingredients to help finish off this soup. Shrimp, more ginger, and fresh cilantro.  The shrimp were light seared in chili paste and ginger. The shrimp was then added to a bowl, and the soup strained over the top.


The soup was deliciously spicy, and with great flavor base. My dear friend Nikki joined me on this test meal and added the input that it needed just a few more items in the bowl, like mushrooms or broccoli.  However, this also came out "I don't like soup. I never really eat it." But, then I found Nikki finishing her bowl before me, and licking it clean, then heading back for more... 

 

This is Nikki's bowl.