Recipe: Lemongrass soup with shrimp and young coconut

When Vancouver's Pailin Chongchitnant was first asked to write a cookbook, she didn't see much point as she was already providing a variety of Thai recipes on her popular YouTube cooking show.

But she quickly realized that there is a difference — and that a cookbook would allow her to provide her audience with a deeper understanding of Thai cuisine.

"Food culture is huge," Chongchitnant told North by Northwest host Sheryl MacKay.

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"If you look at a dish out of context you don't really understand: how is it eaten, is it eaten with anything? Is this dinner?"

Chongchitnant's first cookbook Hot Thai Kitchen — also the name of her YouTube show — is filled with a variety of recipes, beautiful photographs of the food, scenery and people of Thailand.

Chongchitnant, who was born in Thailand and later studied nutrition at the University of B.C., said that writing the book also made her realize there are "underlying patterns" to cooking Thai cuisine, and said understanding these patterns makes cooking the food much easier.

"For example, any Thai curry is made up of a paste, the curry paste, and that paste can be made up of a variety of different things  there's endless variations of paste, and then there's the liquid and you can use coconut milk, you can use water, you can use any stock any number of liquid," she said.

"And then you add what I call the nuggets — you chose your meat and your vegetables."

"If you look at any curry they have those components, they all have a paste, they all have a liquid, they all have those little nuggets in them. Once you know that you can really start making your own curry."

Chongchitnant shared one of her cookbook's recipes with North by Northwest:

Lemongrass soup with shrimp and young coconut

Ingredients:

• 12 oz shrimp, shell-on, head-on if possible       
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil       
• 2 1/2 cups water       
• 1 1/2 cups 100% coconut water, pre-packaged or from fresh young coconuts
• 1 cup young coconut meat, canned or from fresh young coconuts
• 3/4 cup coconut milk       
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bottom half only, smashed and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 5 slices galangal, sliced into thin rounds       
• 4–5 kaffir lime leaves, torn into chunks       
• 3–4 Thai chilies, minced for more heat, crushed for less
• 3 Tbsp fish sauce       
• 2–3 Tbsp Thai chili paste (nam prik pao)       
• 1/4 cup lime juice       
• For garnish cilantro       
• For serving jasmine rice (optional)  

Method:

Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the heads and shells. Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat, then sauté the shrimp heads and shells until browned bits (called sucs in culinary French) have started to form at the bottom of the pot. Add the water, scraping the bottom of the pot to release the sucs. Simmer this stock gently for 20–30 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.

Open the young coconuts and measure out 1 1/2 cups of coconut water—you can drink the rest. Scrape out the coconut meat with a spoon and cut into roughly 2-inch strips. If you have less than 1 cup, add canned coconut meat to make up the shortfall.

When the shrimp stock is done, strain and measure out 1 3/4 cups of stock and return it to the pot. If there isn't enough, add water to make up the shortfall; if you have too much, reduce  it longer or reserve for another use. You may wish to reserve some shrimp heads for garnish. 

Bring the stock to a boil over medium-high heat and then add the coconut water, coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai chilies; simmer for 3–5 minutes to infuse. Note: The lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves are traditionally left in the soup, but are not meant to be eaten. You can remove them after this step or inform your guests not to eat them.

In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce and Thai chili paste; stir to loosen the chili paste and pour into the soup. Add the shrimp and coconut meat; cook just until the shrimp is done. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

When ready to serve, garnish with cilantro and add a few shrimp heads for an extra wow-factor if you wish. You can pour the soup over rice, add rice to the soup bowl, or enjoy the soup on its own.

Note: Finding shell-on shrimp, let alone head-on, can be quite a challenge if you're looking for them at Western supermarkets. You can also look for them at farmers' markets or fish markets, which often sell live or fresh, unprocessed shrimp. If you really can't find shell-on shrimp, you can still make this dish using a good chicken stock instead of water.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest

To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled: Popular YouTube cooking show host releases cookbook exploring Thai cuisine