Thai "Tom Yum" soup recipe

I love love love Thai food. Can't get enough of it. And feeling slightly under the weather last night, I decided to attempt to make my favorite Thai soup: Tom Yum. But, with the cold weather, I could not bring myself to go to an Asian food specialty store to buy some of the more hard-to-find ingredients in traditional Tom Yum soup, like kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. So I had to improvise-- eek! I was nervous it would not taste at all like the real thing, but it actually was awesome! Tasted just like my favorite Tom Yum from Pho & I. I made it with tofu, but you could also substitute chicken or shrimp.

"Tom Yum" soup

serves 2

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 package of extra firm tofu

2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (can substitute fresh, but I only had this)

1 large handful (around 1 1/2 cups) bean sprouts

2 heaping teaspoons sriracha (chili sauce) --this makes it medium spicy (for me)

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1 cup roughly chopped cilantro

1 lime, juiced

whole grain udon noodles

1 cup mushrooms, halved

1. In a small saucepan, boil water. Once boiling, add udon noodles, cook 10-12 minutes. Drain.

2. In a large saucepan, boil the chicken stock. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low and add fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha, ground ginger, and the mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes. Then add the cilantro and the bean sprouts, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Finally, toss in the cooked noodles and the tomatoes. Serve, and garnish with some additional cilantro.

Has a little kick to it-- clears those sinuses right up!