Smoked Mackerel and Tomato Soup

Name: Smoked Mackerel and Tomato Soup
Yield: Serves Four
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups vegetable stock; 4 tomatoes; 200 g/7 oz smoked mackerel fillets; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2.5 ml/½ tsp dried chilli flakes; 5 cm/2 in piece fresh galangal, finely diced; 4 shallots, finely chopped; 1 lemon grass stalk, finely chopped; small bunch fresh chives or spring onions (scallions), to garnish; 45 ml/3 tbsp thick tamarind juice, made by mixing tamarind paste with warm water; 5 ml/1 tsp palm sugar or light muscovado (brown) sugar; 15 ml/1 tbsp Thai fish sauce

Preparation info

Serves
Four

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Thai Food and Cooking

By Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson

Published 2011

About

All the ingredients for this unusual soup are cooked in a single pan, so it is not only quick and easy to prepare, but reduces the clearing up. Smoked mackerel gives the soup a robust flavour, but this is tempered by the citrus tones in the lemon grass and tamarind.

Ingredients

200 g/7 oz smoked mackerel fillets
4 tomatoes

Asia
Thailand
Pescatarian
South East Asia
Gluten-free
Soup

Method

Prepare the smoked mackerel fillets. Remove and discard the skin, if necessary, then chop the flesh into large pieces. Remove any stray bones with your fingers or a pair of tweezers.
Cut the tomatoes in half, squeeze out most of the seeds with your fingers, then finely dice the flesh with a sharp knife. Set aside.