Cast of characters. You can switch this soup up any way you like. Lots of different veggies work and of course meat can replace the tofu. But lemon grass and ginger are essential. (Ignore the Candico)

Peel your ginger.

Chop it fine. I put it through a garlic mincer first.

Chop and bruise the lemon grass. I love the smell of this stuff!

Chop the chillies. I love chillies and would probably put in at least one more in retrospect.

Put 2,5 litres of water, two chicken stock cubes and the ingredients you just chopped in a large pot.

Give it a good stir and bring to a boil.

Add 2,5 tablespoons of fish sauce.

Put on the lid and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile chop the bok choy

and shred the dried seaweed. Chop whichever veggies you're using. I combined it with bean sprouts so didn't have much chopping to do. In stead I did the dishes while waiting. :)

Chop the tofu in to cubes.

When it's simmered enough and all the flavours are infused in the broth, strain all the large pieces out.

Add the bok choy and bean sprouts. (I was told it is best to leave the bean sprouts until the end so they keep their crunch, but I thought they were fine like this.)

Add the noodles.

I added a second stalk of lemon grass because I thought it needed a bit more flavour. Let the pot simmer for approx 3 minutes (until noodles are cooked).

Add the seaweed.

Add the tofu.

And voila! Time to enjoy a soothing bowl of soup! (Add a dash of lemon juice for a bit of extra zing.)

How to cook my warming, simple thai soup

A great pick-me-up for cold and rainy days. Very easy to make and can be thrown together with just about anything. This makes about 6-8 servings, depending on how hungry people are.