Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tom Yam Yummy ^_^
ToM yaM CLuB
A cruise to a most popular dish in Asia.....~
I’m in love with hot Tom Yam soup nowadays, as it is spicy and delicious! There are few types of Tom Yam, but I’m actually prefer Tom yam seafood, which is a spicy shrimp soup with some other seafoods. It is one of the top 10 dishes and it is popular among local Thai people and foreigners. The color of the soup will be either clear or creamy depends on addition of coconut milk or not. You can normally see prawns, squid, mushroom and spices inside the hot soup. It is so delicious with its unique sour and spicy taste, and you will be addicted to it and want it for more after trying once!
The ingredients to make a Tom Yam soup ^_^
- 1 pint of water
- 10 large shrimp
- 1 cup of mushrooms
- 1 stalk of lemon grass chopped
- 2 kaffir-lime leaves
- 1 table spoon of chopped coriander leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground chilli (the amount can be adjusted according to one's preference)
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of lime juice
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Step by step!
1. Pour the water into a pot, add the lemon grass and kaffir-lime leaves and heat it.
2. Add the shrimps when the water is boiling and cover the pot.
3. Wait for 3 minutes before adding the mushrooms and salt.
4. Leave it to simmer for a few minutes. Then remove from the heat.
5. Season with fish sauce, lime juice and ground chilli.
6. Put the chopped coriander leaves in the pot before serving.
(Anurak
Nutritional Value of Tom yam
| Serving
| 1 portion |
| Serving Weight(g) | 668 |
| Energy (kcal) | 271 |
| Protein (g) | 21
|
| Fat Total (g) | 18 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 7
|
| Dietary fibre (g) | 3 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 353 |
| Ca (mg) | 234 |
| Na(mg) | 2507 |
Adapted from
Act, Ministry of Health, 1999
Nutritional Info of Prawn (per selected serving)
| Nutritional Info | Prawns |
| Kcal/KJ | 76/321 |
|
Protein (g) | 17.6 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 0 |
| Fat(g)
| 0.6 |
| Calcium(mg) | 79 |
| Iron(mg) | 1.6 |
| Vitamin A(ug) | Trace |
| Vitamin D(ug) | Trace |
| Thiamin(mg) | 0.04 |
| Riboflavin(mg) | 0.12 |
| Niacin (mg)
| 0.5 |
Adapted from 'The Composition of Foods', 5th edition (plus supplements), are reproduced with permission of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Controller of HMSO
Nutritional Value of Squid (per selected serving)
| Nutritional Info | Squid |
| Kcal | 109 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 65.8
|
| Protein (g) | 4.4 |
| Calcium (mg) | 9.0 |
| Iron (mg) | 0.2
|
| Magnesium (mg) | 9.3 |
| Phosphorus (mg) | 62.4 |
| Zinc (mg) | 0.4
|
| Vitamin A (IU) | 9.3 |
| Vitamin C (mg) | 1.3 |
| Choline (mg) | 18.4 |
Adapted from Nutrition Data, 2008
Seafood is well known of its great nutritional value, and also the top quality protein. In the Tom yam soup, we have two kinds of seafood in it, which are the prawn and squid. Both of them are the excellent choice to meet our daily protein needs. 115g of prawn actually contain just 112 kcals and less than 1 g of fat, this value is lower than dairy product and meat. Seafood is also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. The amount of Vitamin C in seafood is low, but we can get a good amount of B complex vitamin such as niacin, B12, B6 and thiamine. Minerals such as zinc, iron, phosphorus, calcium etc. also have a fair amount in seafood (Delaware Sea Grant Program, n.d.). So after looking into this information and knowing it is actually nourishing our body with valuable nutrients, I bet all of you will like to have Tom yam soup as well ya!
How do these ‘thing’ metabolize after gone into our tummy???
Lets get to know what happen to protein after we ate the food~
When we had a nice bowl of Tom yam, what goes into our body are mostly protein and fat. Here is how the protein metabolized:
Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sometimes other atoms are the compounds of the protein. Nitrogen is important to form 20 different amino acids which is the building blocks of body cells. Protein is being break down into amino acids by digestion. Amino acids are metabolized to glycogen or fat and subsequently used for energy metabolism if they are excess of the body’s
biological requirements. The carbon skeletons of amino acids are converted to acetyl CoA if they are to be used for energy. Carbon dioxide, water, ATP, urea, and ammonia is the final products of protein catabolism (Metabolism, 2008).
The metabolism starts by deamination which is the step to remove the amino groups. This begins with the transfer of amino groups to just one amino acid which is the glutamic acid. Transaminase enzymes catalyse this by transferring the amino group from amino acid to alpha-ketoglutarate becoming alpha-keto acid or L-glutamate. Then, it is being deaminated into ammonia. Liver cells then convert ammonia into urea via urea cycle.
The remaining amino acid is the ‘carbon skeleton’. It will be converted into:
- Acetyl CoA
- Pyruvate
- Citric acid cycle intermediate
For the carbon skeletons end up in acetyl CoA is commited to energy production. While the carbon skeletons which end up in pyruvate or citric acid cycle intermediate may sysnthesis glucose – gluconeogensis.
Adapted from Advameg Inc. 2008
Here is the lipid metabolism:
Break down of fatty acids occur when fatty acid go through the activation and transport into mitochondria, then beta oxidation, and also go through the Electron Transport Chain. By CPT-I, fatty acids are being transported across the outer mitochondrial membrane, then go through the inner mitochondrial membrane. Fatty acids are being released and acetyl CoA is produced. Fatty acids undergo beta oxidation in the mitochondrial matrix. From the fatty acid per cycle it oxidized in the form of acetyl CoA, two carbons are removed from them. Acetyl CoA will them go through TCA cycle, producing NADH and FADH. These are used in the ETC chain to produce ATP, CO2, and water (Introductory Metabolism Module, n.d.).
Long story ler, finish digesting?
Does Tom Yam benefit all of us???
Yes it definitely does. A soup with various ingredients in it is actually providing us a balanced and nutritional meal. To have a more complete meal, you can have the soup together with a bowl of rice. Then, you can have a complete meal with carbohydrates, proteins, fats, energy, vitamins and minerals.
Besides, some of the ingredients or spices in the soup can help us too! Lemon grass is very essential in the cooking of Tom yam. Besides helping to relieve excessive gas in the stomach or intestine, it can also reduce heat in the body, increase the secretion of urine, and also helps increasing immunity towards some kinds of bacteria. Chilli is important for the spicy taste in the soup. It is helpful for the respiratory system and blood circulation. Lime and Kaffir-lime are essential in bringing out the unique sour taste. Lime can helps us to prevent flu, coughing and scurvy. The juice of Kaffir-lime can also cure cough and some types of stomach ache.
Will it be harmful for us then???
We can’t say that this dish will directly harm us. It is actually a balanced and nutritional meal which is good for us. However, to take this dish, we need to see the condition of our body. If you are allergic with seafood, please stay away from this dish as it contains prawns and squid. You can try Tom yam soup cooked with chicken meat. The cholesterol level of these seafood are not as high as egg, but still we need to eat in a moderation way. If your body is diagnosed as ‘heaty’ as in traditional Chinese medication, you should not take much of this dish too. As they said, spicy food is usually hot and will cause overheating, nose bleed, and sore throat or even fever to a ‘heaty’ person. Besides, she/ he might feel anxious too after having it. If you had it before sleeping time, you may suffer from insomnia. Tom yam soup is a spicy dish. Spicy dish will normally upset your stomach. If you are suffering from gastritis, you should avoid it because it is spicy and sour. This can cause acid reflux, flatulence or stomach cramps to you. Therefore, judge your ‘availability’ to have such spicy food so that you will not suffer from bad consequences! =p
Can we modify the food???
Honestly, we hardly can modify this food, as the sour and spiciness is the unique specialty of it. Without the unique sour and spiciness, I think most of us will lose interest towards it! However, we can still improve the nutritional value of the dish by adding more ingredients in it, such as chicken, fish or other seafood such as clamps etc., and also various types of vegetables. Other than that, we can lesser the addition of chilli oil so that there's less fat and calories. We can also minimize the usage of salt that will cause high blood pressure. Besides, we can add in milk rather than coconut milk into the soup. This is much more nutritious yet lower in cholesterol, as all of us know taking too much of coconut milk is bad for health, and it helps to reduce the risk of ‘heart and cardiovascular disease’!!! I had actually tried before curry chicken cooked with milk instead of coconut milk, it is still very nutritious. It would be a good option=)
That’s all for my ‘story’ of Tom yam. Thanks for visiting here and share the Tom yam with me ya!
Prepared by,
Yau Le Si
1000613997
References
1.
2. Fresh Fish and Shell Fish, 2009. Food Nutritional Information, Martin’s Searesh [Online]. Available from: http://www.martins-seafresh.co.uk/Nutrition.htm [Accessed on 25 February 2009].
3. Introductory Metabolism Module, n.d. Protein Metabolism [Online]. Available from: www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/.../aametab.gif [Accessed on 25 February 2009].
4. Metabolism, 2008. Nutrition and Well-being A-Z. Advameg Inc. [Online]. Available from: http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Met-Obe/Metabolism.html [Accessed on 25 February 2009].
5. Nutrition Data, 2008. Mollusks, Squid, Mixed Species, Raw [Online]. Available from: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4197/2 [Accessed on 25 February 2009].
6.
7. T. Suwan,. 2003. Tom Yam Kung. Anurak
