Eating Tom Yam Kung to beat digestive cancer

If you ask any tourist who have ever visited Thailand about their favorite Thai food, their answers, almost without exception, will be Tom Yam Kung.

Tom Yam Kung, or spicy shrimp soup, is the number one of the top ten Thai dishes loved by tourists. And in fact, it is one of the most favorite dishes for Thai people as well. It is simply because it is so delicious for its unique hot and sour taste and the refreshing smell of herbal spices charmingly attracts a wide range of tasters to murmur the words "Tom Yam Kung".

With pride in this Thai delicacy, the Research and Development Institute of Kasetsart University, Kampaengsaen Campus has joined hands with the Division of Applied Life Sciences of the Graduate School of Agriculture of Kyoto University, the Department of Biotechnological Science of Kinky University in Japan to pursue research regarding the benefit of spices that formulate this famous soup. 'Tom Yam Kung' contains ingredients which may help prevent digestive cancer, researchers said.

Substances found in galangal (ginger), lemongrass and kaffir limes, three main ingredients in the soup, are effective in inhibiting tumors in the digestive tract, said the researchers, who work for Kyoto and Bangkok Universities.

Researchers have established other common Thai herbs such as ginger, basil and bitter cucumber could help fight cancer.

So how do we make this popular Tom Yam Kung soup?

We need 6 large spiny-slawed prawns, 1 lemon grass stem, cut into short lengths, 2-3 kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces, 5-6 crushed hot chilies, 3 table spoons lime juice, Siamese ginger root, 1-2 table spoons fish sauce and 3 cups soup stock.

Preparation
First we need to shell and devin the prawns and remove all inedible parts. Second we heat the soup stock in a pot. When it is boiling, put in the lemon grass stems and then the prawns. Season it with the fish sauce, chili, Siamese ginger and lime juice. Then, add the kaffir lime leaves remove from the heat, and serve hot.

Note: Ground dried chili's can be substituted for the hot chili's in this recipe; add 1 teaspoonful of ground dried chili's to the boiling soup stock. Regular Ginger can be substituted for Siamese ginger.

The study did not establish how much tom yam kung soup a person would have to eat to beat digestive cancer.