Recipe: Tom Jued, Thai clear soup with minced pork

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 18 January 2007 in Food & Cuisine and Portfolio.

Have been sick the past few days and needed a simple, healthy, yet tasty soup to warm me up after a chilly winter's day. So, I made Tom Jued - it's really the easiest soup ever, and one that I have frequently ordered in Thai restaurants because it is non-spicy, and me don't take no spicy stuff.

Here's my version, (which serves 4) enjoy! Take 1 pound (450g) of pork and mix in 4 tb finely chopped garlic & 4 tb finely chopped coriander.* Use your fingers to shape the mixture into pork meatballs - you'll probably yield about 25 or so. In a pot, heat up 2 cups of chicken stock together with 4 cups of water.** When broth comes of rolling boil, tip in the meatballs and wait till broth returns to boiling point. (Meatballs should be floating by then, which shows they're cooked.) Then, throw in about 350g of sliced egg tofu & about 50g of tanghoon. Return to boil and then throw in some slices of leafy greens. (Just chop off the top end of the leaves of bok choy or kai lan or any leafy veggie). Return to boil, then serve immediately.

* You can finely chop the garlic & coriander by dumping it in an electric chopper/food processor/grater.
** Most recipes ask you to add soya sauce /fish sauce and use only either water or chicken stock. But the chicken stock I use (Swanson brand) is already salted, so I find I have to mix water & stock, as described in the recipe above, to get the right balance of taste. And no soya sauce is needed. If you use a different brand of chicken stock, you might have to adjust the stock-water ratio yourself, and possibly, add soya sauce/fish sauce to taste.