Maybe...sort of...is it really...Thai soup?

When my co-worker mentioned a few weeks ago that she loves Thai style soups with lemongrass and coconut flavors, I got to thinking, "I bet I could make something like that." I did look up a few recipes, but never looked at anything even remotely authentic.

Now, I don't have a clue when it comes to cooking with south asian ingredients. I'd just never used them until a couple days ago. Of course, in my typical fashion, I decided to use a recipe but then decided to completely forgo the recipe's instructions and even the ingredients list to combine three different recipes to make the dish I had in mind. So, all that to say, this is not authentic and is not a real recipe, but Matthew and I found it to be quite delicious, as did my co-worker.



My (sort of) recipe*:
In my food processor, I chopped up a nice bit each of: white ginger, baby ginger, fresh turmeric root, 2 garlic cloves, two stalks lemon grass, 1 shallot, a little water, lime zest from 1 lime, 2 red chilies. When all was well chopped(and my processor bowl was stained bright yellow), I sauted half the mixture in some canola oil and saved the rest of it in my freezer because I'd really made too much spice mixture. Once it was nice and sizzling, I added 2 1/2 cups water, a little box of coconut cream(just use a cup of coconut milk), 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, a teaspoonful of sugar, a handful of cilantro and a package of buna-shimeji. I let this simmer for a half hour or so before adding salt and pepper to taste, along with a few handfuls shrimp and four giant scallops cut into pieces. Once all was cooked and yummy, we poured the soup over cooked rice vermicelli. Yum!!

* I really hope I didn't forget any of the ingredients or steps that I used to make this.