Thai Sour Soup

The other day, I made "sour soup."  In my head, I imagined this soup to be a lot different than it tasted.  For one, I thought it would be a bit sour, but I was wrong.  It was a super spicy soup.  I thought I might get light headed.  It was really good though, but unbelievably spicy. It could be that I didn't exactly follow the directions ...

The following recipe is from the "Thai Cuisine with Jasmine Rice," book.  It's a great book with 25 top Thai recipes.

Kaeng Som Kung (Sour Curry with Shrimps) 
For some odd reason, I never noticed the following statement under the title:
"Hot and sour red curry soup.  A delciious blend of curry and vegetables flavored with tamarind juice."

Ingredients:
10 shrimps
3 1/2 oz sliced Chinese radish
3 1/2 oz sliced carrot
5 leaves Chinese cabbage, cut into 1 inch lengths
1 tbsp canned sour curry paste
5 long beans, cut into 1 inch
10 Chinese watercress tips
1 tbsp palm sugar
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp tamarind juice
2 cups water

1.  Bring water to a boil.  Add the sour curry paste and stir well.  When boiling again, add carrots and Chinese radish and continue boiling until done.  Add beans and Chinese watercress tips, followed by Chinese cabbage, once the beans are done.
2.  Season with tamarind juice, fish sauce and palm sugar.  Cook over low heat for 5 minutes before adding the shrimp.  Cook until the shrimps are done.  Turn off the heat. 
3.  Serve with jasmine rice.

You may enjoy the sour soup recipe featured in the book ... I, on the other hand, didn't follow it! Not yet at least, but I will in the future. Could that be why my soup was so spicy?  I bought a can of sour soup.  I basically added 1 can (not 1 tbsp) and 4 cups of water, as I remember reading the directions on the back of the can.  Then, I added the shrimp and vegetables.

The soup was really good, but incredibly spicy.  If I actually followed the recipe, maybe it would have turned out a bit differently. However, I can say that the sour soup I made was good, just very hot!  If you like spicy food, pick up a can of sour curry paste and follow the directions on the back.  You'll be sure to love it.  It has a ton of vegetables inside and a ton of spice.