Packed with the salty, sweet, and sour flavors of Thai soup, this nourishing broth has warm turmeric, chili, and lime, just what you need to get through those winter months.
Thailand’s famous tom yum soup is steeped in mystery that no one can quite seem to agree on. Said to have originated at least as far back as the 14th Century, some claim it was concocted for the royal chefs of the Ayutthaya kingdom to impress the region’s highly varied and extraordinary local foods on guests, while others suggest that a Thai boatman came up with it, the lemongrass, lime leaves, and shrimp paste added to a hot pot of boiled soup while making his way upstream to do business in China. Others still refer to it as a dish of rural farmers drenched in herbs and spices. However it came into being, it has finally settled as the epitome of Thai cuisine, and it takes a whole new turn in this recipe for a healing broth, created by South African plant-based food
“There’s something so incredible about a tom yum soup for me,” she says. It’s in the balance of all those gorgeous Thai flavors: salty, sour, sweet, astringent. It brings back this food memory of sitting at a restaurant on a beach in Thailand with my feet in the sand, eating an insane veggie tom yum soup with big chunks of mushroom. It had coconut milk in it with spicy tom yum paste, then roasted peanuts on top. And it was just unbelievable. So, Dormehl took it upon herself to develop a vegetable-based broth that incorporates healthy ingredients and is ideal for winter-she calls it “Everyday Healing Broth”.Â
“It’s got a beautiful combination of ginger, turmeric, and chili, which are all incredibly healing in their way,” she says.
“Ginger is warming and nourishing; turmeric’s got anti-inflammatory properties; and chili is super high in vitamin C. Together they give you that feeling of clearing the airways, opening your chest and your sinuses. You have this zinging feeling when you eat a broth like this: it’s so good it almost makes you feel high! She works as a recipe developer and menu consultant from her smallholding on the Garden Route in South Africa, where she grows her produce and works with plant medicine.
Her book The Wanderlust Kitchen, released on 11 February 2025, focuses on restorative, plant-based recipes from around the world, and with beautiful photography, draws on her skills as a photojournalist and her experiences of gathering recipes while traveling through Thailand, India, Belgium, Nicaragua, Hong Kong, and California. Â “My plant-based food journey started in India,” she says. “The vegetarian food in India was mind-blowing. And I just felt so incredible eating that way: I felt lighter and I was doing a lot of yoga and I felt very connected to my body. After that, it just naturally continued.” Her recipes take readers on a journey around the world, from Salsa Macha, a thick salsa hailing from Veracruz along the Gulf of Mexico coast, to a Jackfruit Tostada dish inspired by time spent in Sri Lanka, to Kithara, an ayurvedic dal dish straight from India.
Apart from the rainbow-hued images of her dishes, the book is full of inspirational travel photography-from the red hills of Hampi, India, through to the foaming surf of Nicaraguan beach-and suggestions of mantras and meditations to aid focus.All the recipes are vegan, but it’s not a recipe book only for those who don’t eat meat, as she says. There’s a lot more awareness around the role of food in health, and the need to incorporate whole foods and lots of colour – Samantha Dormehl
“Plant-based menus have just got so much more creative in the last 10 years,” she says. “I think that even if people aren’t eating a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet, they are looking to incorporate more plants into their diet and not feeling they have to eat meat with every meal. There’s a lot more awareness around the role of food in health, and the need to incorporate whole foods and lots of color.”
The benefits of health-giving food were found by Dormehl when her partner tragically died after being struck by lightning. Following this experience, and an episode of kidney stones, she started to look at how food could help on her healing journey, mentally and physically. Food is medicine, with every meal a chance to nourish and heal the body or not.
