I love to prepare the Tom Yam paste from scratch when I make Tom Yam soup. It's healthier than the ready store-bought Tom Yam paste.

INGREDIENTS:

(A)

12 red chillie

5 cloves garlic

5 shallot

2 inches galangal (Lengkuas)

2 inches ginger

1 cm fresh turmeric

4 stalks lemongrass

3 pcs kaffir lime leaves

(B)

3 pieces kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped

3 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp brown sugar/rock sugar

Lime juice from 1 ½ lime

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp coriander powder

5 tbsp cooking oil

METHOD:

1.  Place all ingredients in a mini food chopper or food processor.

2.  Place all ingredients (A) in a food processor or food chopper and blend it to paste.

3.  Heat up a wok with cooking oil over medium heat. Add in all the blended ingredients (A) and stir a bit. Then slowly add in the chopped kaffir lime, fish sauce, brown sugar, salt, coriander powder and fish sauce.

4.  Fry till paste is thick and oil separate from the paste. Remove the paste from wok. Keep the 

5.  Tomyam paste in sealed bottle. It can keep up to 1 week in refrigerator or freezer for months.

Note:

The Tom Yam paste can be used to cook Tom Yam soup, pasta or fry mee hoon (vermicelli).