Coconut & Shrimp Soup

After being sick & in-bed for a bit over one week, I'm finally feeling that the renewal of my body is taking place (Thus my blog entries are renewed as well). Although I haven't been feeling up to cooking, dinner still needs to be served daily. This soup is one of Trav's Thai-restaurant favorites! I modified the recipe of Emeril's Shrimp Coconut Soup with Ginger and Lemongrass on Foodnetwork and made this dish. My modified version is as follows:

Coconut soup (about 2 to 3 servings; Trav & I had two bowls each last night. If you're a big eater like us, this recipe only serves two, haha!)

The soup base:

*One can of chicken broth (or seafood/fish broth) and one can of water (use the very same chicken broth's can as measurement)

*Half a can of coconut milk

*One stalk of fresh lemongrass (at least 3-inch long), chopped

*A chunk of fresh ginger (about the size of a thumb), smashed (don't bother to chop it)

*Any sort of dried or fresh chiles (I just put in one dried red chili pepper)

*one regular size of lime, juiced (half to the cooking process and half for garnish)

*Two tablespoons of fish sauce (IMPORTANT! Please don't omit it and find a good quality bottle.)

(I omitted the Kaffir lime leaves in the original recipe; well, it did no harm to the outcome though.)

Add all of the above ingredients together and simmer it for about 20 minutes. 

The variations:

What's inside of the soup? I put tofu, shrimps, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and some thin-sliced tomatoes for garnish. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro on top. Serve with steamed rice if you wish.