Spicy Thai soup

5 cups vegetable broth (Click here for a home made broth recipe)
5 cups water
2 cups firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 carrots, diced
Green pepper, diced
2 stalk of lemongrass
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
Salt to taste

Before serving, top the soup with and handful of:
Arugula (or baby spinach)
A few leaves of fresh basil
Some chopped cilantro

Spice mix
2 stalks of lemongrass
1 inch of jalapeno (or 2 dried red chillies)
5 big cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt (I use kosher)
1 inch of ginger
1 medium onion

Grind the spice mix together with a mortar and pestle. The second time around I used a food processor and that worked much better; especially with the lemongrass stalks
Bring the broth to boil in a large pot
Add the spice mix and simmer for 10 minutes, covered
Add the water, soy sauce, taste, add salt and more water if necessary
Throw in the tofu and carrots
Simmer for 5 minutes or until carrots are half tender (they should still have some bite to them)
Turn off the heat and add the green pepper and the sesame oil.

Serve steaming hot with fresh basil, cilantro and arugula