I love Thai food. But the LAM is not a fan, so we rarely eat at Thai restaurants, which is okay because this year, I am going to learn to cook my favorite Thai dishes so I can cook them anytime I have a craving!
Today I cooked Tom Yum Goong (ต้มยำกุ้ง) adapted from Hot Thai Kitchen, perhaps the most famous of all Thai soups.
How was I able to tell that this was totally authentic (apart from the super duper yummy taste)? Well, everyone in the house practically ran away when I was making this. The kids are so unused to the smells of lemongrass, galangal and fish sauce they said, “What is that SMELL, Mommy??” and ran away from the kitchen.
Oh well, you can’t win with every dish you cook. Some times, it is important to cook something just for yourself.
Which was what I did! 😀
I am very particular about Thai food. I want that authentic taste – you know, that taste you get when you eat at coffee shops in Thailand? I really like that.
And this Tom Yum recipe provides just that. It’s like being in Thailand again without having to leave my kitchen.
I love it!
So if you are interested to try to cook this, here are the step-by-step pictorial instructions.
Before you begin, use a pair of scissors to make an incision along the back of the shrimp (I used Ang kar prawns). Remove the vein.
Place chicken stock (See here for recipe for home made chicken stock), or prawn stock (See here for recipe for home made prawn stock), or even water (less flavor) over low heat. If you are using store-bought chicken stock, use a mixture of 50% chicken stock and 50% water so it is less salty.
Add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and chili into the stock.
Heat this for about 3-4 minutes, or until you can smell the aroma of the ingredients.
Add the mushrooms – I used oyster mushrooms and bunashimeiji mushrooms but you can use any Asian mushrooms that you like.
Bring this to a boil.
Once it has boiled, turn off the heat. Add the prawns.
The residual heat from the soup should cook the prawns.
Add lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, as well as chili paste (if using) to taste.
I didn’t add the chili paste because I didn’t have any, so I added 2 more bird’s eye chilies instead!
BURP. 😀
- 4 cups (1 litre) prawn stock, chicken stock, or water
- 8-12 medium sized prawns, head and shell on if possible
- 5-6 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn or cut
- 1 lemongrass stalk, smashed and cut into 1-2 inch (2.5-5cm) pieces
- 7-8 rounds galangal, thinly sliced.
- 3-5 Bird's eye chilies, bruised and cut into large pieces
- 3-4 tablespoons Thai chilli paste (optional) - I omitted this
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup (80-120ml) fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) fish sauce
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 1/2 cup (about 175g) oyster mushroom, cut or tear large ones into bite-sized pieces
- 1 punnet (100g) bunashimeiji mushrooms, roots removed
- Coriander for garnish
- Before you begin, use a pair of scissors to make an incision along the back of the shrimp. Remove the vein.
- Place chicken stock, or prawn stock, or even water (less flavor) over low heat. If you are using store-bought chicken stock, use a mixture of 50% chicken stock and 50% water so it is less salty.
- Add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and chili into the stock.
- Heat this for about 3-4 minutes, or until you can smell the aroma of the ingredients.
- Add the mushrooms – I used oyster mushrooms and bunashimeiji mushrooms but you can use any Asian mushrooms that you like. Bring this to a boil.
- Once it has boiled, turn off the heat. Add the prawns. The residual heat from the soup should cook the prawns.
- Add lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, as well as chili paste (if using) to taste.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing, I didn’t know it’s so easy. So far I always get premix.
Hi Diana,
Oh I love tom yam goong … and the aroma of lemongrass. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Me too Karen! <3
Good start, but than name does not include lemongrass, it is just spicy soup shrimp (goong meaning shrimp). You made a rookie mistake with the lemon grass, never chop into pieces or you will have inedible pieces in the soup. Take the lemon grass and lay it on a cutting board and hit it a few times with the flat side of a meat tenderizer until it is flexible, then tie into an overhand knot, easily seen in the soup, and people can avoid that item. Beating it also helps release the oils.
Mushrooms of choice are normally straw mushrooms cut in half from top to bottom.
Yep, you really needed that chili paste in there, that is not something that should be optional 🙂
Other than that, good looking soup 🙂