Tom Kloeng Pla Grorb - Crispy fish soup

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Tom Kloeng Pla Grorb - Spicy Sour soup with crispy fish.
I thought i would introduce one of the lesser known recipes now that the blog is beginning to take shape

Tom Kloeng Pla Grorb is a spicy, sour-tasting soup, some recipes prefer to use young tamarind leaf, others use the flower of the Tamarind tree.This assists in lending a more sour taste and special aroma to the soup.Th crispy fish adds a sweet taste and a smoky aroma to the dish. If you cant find Pla Grorb (a kind of fried or smoked dried fish), you can use some other kind of fish if you like. ( i recommend a smoked fish as this is part of the taste of the soup.
Ingredients;
Pla Grorb 8 units (8 dried fish)
6 Tomatoes
6 hom daeng (red small Thai shallots)
200gms straw mushrooms
3 lemongrass stalks
6 Kaffir lime leaves
4 pieces of Galangal root, sliced into oval slices
8 small dried chillies
1/2 a cup of fresh coriander leaves
1 teaspoon of sugar
4 tablespoons of lemon juice (lime juice if you can)
6 tablespoons of Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce)
3 cups of stock
save some coriander for decoration when serving.

Preparation method;

1.Roast the pla grorb on the stove for a few minutes to give them aroma, and place to one side.(you can roast them in a dry fryingpan/wok, or even grill or in the oven. In Thailand, most households have an earthen barbeque pot for making charcoal barbeque with.This is what is used to roast the fish with.
2.wash and chop the tomatoes, likewise wash the straw mushrooms thoroughly and slice into halves
3.take the shallots and dried chillies and dry-roast them in the "grata" (grata is the name for the wok-like frying pan used) with a little salt, and place to one side for the moment.
4.put the stock in a saucepan along with the Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal root, chillies and hom daeng shallots, mushrooms and coriander.
5. once boiling, add the pla grorb and tomatoes, sugar, fish sauce. Switch the heat of and add the lemon/lime juice, whilst stirring continually to make sure the mixture binds.
Serve with some fresh coriander to garnish.
(if you don't like coriander leaf, then you can use parsley as a substitute).