Khao Tom — Thai Rice Soup with Prawns
Last night's rice loosens into a gingery broth, and the prawns cook in the stored heat alone.
Why it works
Cooked rice has already gelatinised, so it only needs to swell and warm through: five minutes in stock gives a soup with real body where raw-rice congee wants an hour. The prawns go in off the heat, where the warmth held in the broth cooks them through without tightening them.
Method
- Warm the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute, until the garlic is pale gold and smells sweet — any darker and it turns bitter.
- Pour in the 1.2 litres (5 cups) of stock, raise the heat and bring to a fast boil.
- Break the cold rice apart with your fingers as you drop it in so no clumps survive. Simmer 5 minutes, until the grains plump and the broth coats the back of a spoon.
- Stir in the pak choi, fish sauce and white pepper. Slide in the prawns, lift the pan off the heat and put the lid on. Leave 2 minutes — they are ready when opaque right through and curled into a loose C.
- Ladle into deep bowls, scatter with spring onion and coriander, and squeeze lime over at the table.
For the toddler
Ladle a small bowlful of the broth and rice out at the end of step 3, before the fish sauce and white pepper go in, and use water rather than stock for the pan if you can. Simmer one prawn and a little shredded pak choi in it for two minutes in a small pan, then chop the prawn small. Leave the lime and the coriander stalks off theirs.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Flaked salmon, shredded chicken or firm tofu all sit in this broth as happily as prawns. Cold brown rice wants 8 minutes rather than 5.
Leave the ginger unpeeled and slice it thin — the skin softens away in the broth.
Beat an egg and stir it through the boiling soup in step 3 for ribbons.
The rice drinks the broth overnight, so loosen with water when you reheat.