By February, even reliable comfort foods can lose their warming charm. Risotto, jacket potatoes, dal – all the old favourites which seemed so exciting back in the late autumn now seem to stretch in an unending starchy line to spring (whenever that may be). And while it's not quite time to retire the masher for the season, a dose of fresh, dare I say "zingy" flavour in the form of a clean, aromatic soup is just the thing to shake up a hibernating palate.
Thai tom yum is just what the doctor ordered, being both hot and searingly aromatic enough to cut through even the stuffiest of winter colds. I'm informed the name simply means hot and sour soup, and that it can contain all manner of things from beef to crab, but as most recipes I found called for prawns, that's what I've gone for here. As food writer Vatcharin Bhumichitr observes, however, it's a very adaptable basic recipe which also has the benefit of being quite ridiculously quick to make once you've amassed the ingredients – just the thing for when you feel at death's door.