Tom Yum Soup Recipe (ต้มยำกุ้ง) – Authentic Thai Style

Categories
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tom Yum or Tom Yam

is the most famous Thai soup not only in Asia but also around the world. There are several alternatives to this soup, but they all have one thing in common: it is a combination of hotness (chilli), sourness (lime) and the taste of seafood (fish sauce and shrimp). If you want to try cooking Tom Yum Goong, we recommend trying this recipe, because the preparation is very easy and fast.

Recipe by Pailin Chongchitnant

Preparation: 20 min. Cooking: 30 min. Total time: 50 min. For: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 350g medium sized shrimp, shell-on, head-on if possible
  • 4 cups water (or use 3 ½ cups unsalted chicken stock if not using shell on shrimp)
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, bottom half only (see note)
  • 10 pc galangal, cut into thin rounds
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves
  • Thai chilies, to taste
  • ½ cup evaporated milk
  • 3-4 cups oyster mushrooms, straw mushrooms, or another Asian mushroom
  • ¼  cup Thai chili paste (nam prik pao)
  • 3 Tbsp fish sauce
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • A big handful of chopped sawtooth coriander (culantro) or cilantro
  • Jasmine rice for serving

Approach

  • Rinse shrimp well, then peel and devein them (see video for a cool deveining trick!) and place all heads and shells into a stock pot. Put the pot over medium high heat and saute the shrimp shells until stuff that sticks to the pot starts to brown slightly. It should smell like shrimp on the grill!
  • Add water, scrape off the browned bits that are stuck to the pot, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Then, use a slotted skimmer to remove the shells, making sure to drain off as much of the liquid as you can.

If using chicken stock, start from here:

  • Smash lemongrass and cut into chunks. Roughly tear the kaffir lime leaves. Finely chop the chilies or pound in a mortar and pestle into a paste.
  • Bring the stock to a simmer, then add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and chilies (if you pounded the chilies, rinse the mortar with some of the stock to make sure you get all the chili bits into the pot). Simmer for 5 minutes. Note: The herbs are not meant to be eaten, so at this point you can either fish them out, but I like to leave some in there for garnish. Just be sure to tell your guests not to eat them!
  • Add evaporated milk and bring to boil. Add mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes or until mushrooms are done.
  • Add chili paste and fish sauce, and stir to dissolve the chili paste. Add shrimp meat and cook just until done, 30 seconds or so.
  • Turn off the heat and let the soup cool down slightly, just for a minute, so it is not simmering or boiling. Add lime juice while stirring.
  • Stir in sawtooth coriander or cilantro, then taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
  • To serve, you can pour the soup over rice, add rice to the soup bowl, or have the soup on the side as part of a bigger meal. Enjoy!

Video sample of the recipe:

 

Add new comment:

...

Add reply to comment:

... Cancel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Full (Desktop) version