January 14, 2007
Tom Yam Goong (Prawns) Soup To Spice Up Your Life
Hot! Hot! Hot! Smokingly spicy Tom Yam Soup!
J liked my Stir Fried Kailan with Scallops and Shrimp so much that he requested that I cook the same again. However as you already know, it’s not easy to maintain a food blog, so I have to cook something new right?
Since he has a cold and I have prawns and my recently bought Tom Yum Paste that I used to make Melting Wok’s Otak Otak (which I will write about my experience later), I thought why not make Tom Yam Soup? Tom Yam Soup is good as a cold remedy because it’s so spicy it literally clears the nasal passage!
Ingredients (for 1 big serving or 2 small servings):
- 1 fresh lemongrass
- 3 medium prawns, shelled and deveined, set aside heads and shells to make prawn broth
- 1 pc fresh galangal (about 1 inch thick), sliced
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 medium shallot, sliced
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp Tom Yam paste
- 2 heaped spoonfuls of dried shitake mushrooms, sliced and soaked in warm water (you can choose to use straw mushrooms or regular button mushrooms, sliced)
- 1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced on the bias
- lime juice (from 1 medium lime)
Preparation and Cooking Method:
1. Use only the bottom white part (about 6 inches) of the lemongrass and discard the woody grass part of it. Cut into 2 inch segments. With the flat side of a cleaver or a heavy object, pound and bruise the lemongrass so it’s flavor is released.
2. Make prawn broth by adding prawn heads, shells lemongrass and galangal to warm water. Cover pot, bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Remove prawn heads and shells from broth, then add fish sauce, shallots, sugar, Tom Yam paste, mushrooms and green onions into prawn stock. Stir well to dissolve the Tom Yam paste. Cover pot and bring soup to a boil.
4. Add prawns and cook in boiling soup for about 5 minutes or until prawns are curled up.
5. Remove galangal and lemongrass before serving as they are not edible. Add lime juice, stir well and serve.
Cooking Notes:
Do not overcook the prawns or they will become tough. Once they curl up, they are cooked. If you are serving the soup later, then bring soup to a boil and add prawns only about 5 minutes before serving.
Garnish with cilantro (optional).
Test for saltiness and sourness. If required, add more fish sauce (saltiness) or lime juice (sourness).
The recipe above gives you Tom Yam Soup that is a little thick. If you prefer a thinner consistency, add just a wee bit of hot water to dilute it.
Spiciness level for this Tom Yam Goong (Prawns) Soup recipe is medium.
Bite This!
More recipes:
Weekend Herb Blogging - Lemon Grass
Got Soup? (8) - Removing Grease From Soup
Early Chinese New Year Greetings
Got Soup? (Final) - Serving Soup
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January 14th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Tom Yum Gung (Spicey soup with shrimp) is an old Thai favorite.
If you’re interested in seeing how it’s cooked in Thailand, go to
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com
Click on the recipe page and you’ll find about 30 favorite Thai dishes. Each one comes with an instructional video , ingredients etc.
January 14th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I know how you feel like trying new recipes all the time to keep the food blog going. :)
This soup looks super spicy.
By the way, I’ve just sent you an email to yich at simcooks. I hope it is a valid address.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Oh no, you have become me…with all these seafood posts. ;)
January 15th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Quick quick, which Tom Yum Paste and which section to find Galangal? Tom Yum is one of my fav Thai dish too!
I love the sourness and spice of it. But the other one in my hse does not like it sour. :( Keep saying “sour” is bad for our bones…etc etc.
So I imagine if I cook this, I will have to eat it alone unles I make it SUPER-spicy and win over another taster ;p
But I still can try this for my own liking…;p
January 15th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Hi Ernie, Thanks for visiting! I may make the spring rolls from the thaifoodtonight site. I was looking for the tapioca dessert recipe (which has a little drizzle of coconut milk) but it isn’t there.
Sue - If I add noodles, it will look like one of those spicy Korean Ramen Noodles with Kimchi! Spicy!!
RM - Not me la… this one was made for ‘the other one in my house’, as what Tiga would say.
Tiga! I bought Tom Yum Paste, Lee Brand (blue cap), Instant Hot and Sour Paste - $1.39. I found it in the aisle with the Glory sambal belachan (somewhere there). Galangal is found near the mung bean sprouts / lemongrass section. Even the smallest piece was a big piece, you can make several servings of Otak Otak and Tom Yum Soup!
January 15th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Some additional notes for Tiga!
Most of the Tom Yum Soup recipes also put 2-3 kaffir lime leaves but I couldn’t find that, so I omitted that because in the Tom Yum Paste list of ingredients, kaffir lime leaves was one of the ingredients.
Lime juice I used 3 packets of extra lime juice I had from the Prima taste premixes.
I didn’t add Bird’s eye chillies cos that’ll be too spicy for “the other one in the house” :)
And I used shitake mushrooms cos I had dried ones in the pantry. Most Tom Yum Soup recipes use straw mushrooms.
Hope that helps!
January 15th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
This looks red hot. Looks good. :)
January 15th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
It is! Hot and good! Do you like spicy food too?
January 15th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Looks like I can do this dish without the kaffir leaves too! I bought lemongrass from that section but did not see any galangal…*blur sotong, me* Your tom yum soup has no sotong coz I think the sotong is me….woohoo….
Let me get Tom Yum Paste first b4 I go for this dish!
January 16th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
[…] It took me quite a bit of effort to get all these ingredients together and I was worried that I would not be able to finish using them. However, my fears were allayed when I found another recipe - Tom Yum Soup - which used similar ingredients like galangal, fish sauce, shallot and tom yum paste. *phew!* […]
January 17th, 2007 at 8:44 am
yup i love spicy food!
January 27th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
[…] I made a hot and spicy Tom Yum Goong (Prawns) Soup recently and used lemon grass as an ingredient. Tom Yum Goong (Prawns) Soup […]
February 10th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Can you please tell me where you buy the Tom Yum paste? A website or a store name would be great. Looking forward to making my own soup :)
February 11th, 2007 at 9:34 am
For Tom Yum Paste Try
http://www.templeofthai.com/food/convenience/tomyumpaste-3840361074.php