Millet in Tom Yum Soup

For the 'Dish it Out' monthly event, I planned to come up with a healthy nutritious soup using yellow pearl millet which has been one of my favourite staple food at home when we got so bored of eating rice and pasta. When the millet is cooked with little water it becomes congee and when lots of water diluted, it's a soup, so you can cook this recipe in two ways. In Northern part of China millet is consumed highly as it is rich in vitamin B1 and B2 which are necessary to prevent indigestion and sore in the corner of the mouth. Millet is also an alkaline grain that carries abundant nutrition especially amino acid which is good for people with ache all over, disorder of gastric acid, bad breath, indigestion, vomiting, for pregnant women in regulating body condition. I have prepared the soup sometimes using prawns and sometimes substituting them with silken tofu for protein. Its a Thai inspired soup which has all the strong lemony fragrant of lemongrass. The 'Tom Yum' paste made at home has given a nice punch of spiciness and well balanced by the sourness contributed by the ripe tomatoes and lime juice. Millet in general is slightly bland in flavor so adding aromatic herbs really had elevated the soup. Whenever I cook the soup using fresh prawns with all the colorful crunchy vegetables, it has been a great hit in the dining. Nevertheless, the vegetarian version is equally tasty and hardly created heavy feeling of eating grains such as rice, whole wheat or semolina or even barley. 

"Linking this to Dish it out event hosted by Hasna of Kachuss Delights ; originally hosted by Vardhini of Cooks Joy"

 

Millet in Tom Yum Soup

Ingredients :  : 

Large ripe tomatoes : 2

Yellow Pearl Millet : 1/4 cup

Tom Yum Paste : 1 1/2 tbsp to 2 tbsp (adjust according to your spice level)

Mixed Vegetables : 2 cups

(I have used cauliflower, carrot, sweet potato, baby corn, french beans) 

Silken tofu : 1/2 cup (non-vegetarian, may replace with prawns)

Water : 6 cups

Olive oil : 2 tbsp

Small onions : 4 

Crushed lemongrass : 1 stalk

Freshly ground black pepper : 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt : as needed

Tom Yum paste:

Dry red chillies :3

Garlic :7 cloves

Ginger : 1 inch

Lemongrass : 2 stalks (use only the bottom pink part)

Method :

2. Blanch mixed vegetables of your choice salted hot water for 10 min. Then, discard the water and strain it well.

3. In a pan, when the olive oil is slightly hot, fry finely sliced onions and later add 2 tbsp of Tom Yum paste. Fry till the raw smell dissipates.

4. Now, add diced tomatoes and salt, fry them till the tomato is mashed well.

5. Next add 6 cups of water and 1/4 cup of millet and let it boil on medium low flame till the millet is cooked thoroughly. Lastly chuck in blanched veggies and cook for 5 minutes. I have also added some black pepper powder. Silken tofu is crumbled lightly into the soup and cooked only for 3 minutes before the switching off the flame. 

6. Serve hot with freshly squeezed lime if required.

-Abby