Tom Yum Goong
Thailand's sour-spicy shrimp soup built on lemongrass, galangal, and nam prik pao, with lime juice stirred in after cooking for freshness.
The shrimp shells are built first into a deep broth, while the rice can cook and steam through alongside. Then the fresh aromatics are briefly steeped in the broth, before mushrooms, chili, and shrimp are added, and the soup is finished off the heat. The shrimp's brief cooking time determines whether they stay juicy.
Ingredients
The Soup
- 1 kg whole raw tiger shrimp, head and shell on
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1.8 l water
- 3 pcs lemongrass, bottom half only, bruised flat and cut into diagonal pieces
- 8 slice fresh galangal, thinly sliced
- 6 leaf kaffir lime leaves, torn into pieces, center rib removed
- 200 g straw mushrooms, canned, drained and halved
- 4-6 pcs Thai bird's eye chilies, lightly crushed with the flat of a knife
- 1 tbsp nam prik pao, Thai roasted chili paste
- 1 tsp palm sugar, grated
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 4 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 handful fresh cilantro, leaves only
The Rice
- 400 g jasmine rice
- 6 dl water
- 1 tsp salt
How to make it
- Peel the shrimp, and save the heads and shells. Snap off the head, pull the shell off the tail, and scrape out the dark vein with the tip of a small knife, so the meat is left clean and firm. Keep the cleaned shrimp meat cold, and gather the heads and shells in a bowl. ⏱ 10 min
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and add the heads and shells. Toast them, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, pressing the heads flat with the back of a spoon as you go. They're ready when the shells are deep orange and the fat has melted clear into the oil.Chef's tip The orange fat inside the heads is the flavour — press until it runs and stains the oil deep orange. Keep the shells short of blackening; scorched shell turns the broth bitter.
- Pour the water into the pot, and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat, and let the broth simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, until it smells deeply of shrimp and has taken on a faint orange color. ⏱ 20 min · passive
- Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pot, pressing the shells and heads firmly with the back of a spoon so all the flavor comes through. Discard the shells and heads — you should have about 1.5 liters of clear broth left.
- Rinse the jasmine rice in plenty of cold water three to four times, until the water runs almost clear, and drain well.
- Put the rice in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, together with the water for the rice and the salt. Bring it to a boil, turn down to the lowest heat, and cook the rice, covered, for 15 minutes, until the water has been fully absorbed and small steam holes appear on the surface. ⏱ 15 min · passive
- Take the rice off the heat, and let it steam through under the closed lid for 10 minutes, until the grains are tender and loose. Don't lift the lid in the meantime, since it's the trapped steam that finishes the job. ⏱ 10 min · passive
- Bring the strained shrimp broth back to a boil, and add the lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves. Let it steep at a gentle simmer for 5 minutes, until the broth smells strongly of lemongrass and lime. ⏱ 5 min · passiveChef's tip Bruising cracks the fibres so the oils can escape into the broth. Keep it gentle and short — those oils are volatile, and a hard boil sends the lemongrass and lime aroma into the air instead of the soup.
- Add the straw mushrooms and crushed chilies to the fragrant broth, and let them cook along for 2-3 minutes, until the mushrooms are heated through and have shrunk slightly.
- Stir in the nam prik pao and palm sugar, until the paste has fully dissolved and the broth has taken on a deep orange sheen.Chef's tip Nam prik pao is chili paste suspended in oil; stirring it into hot broth disperses that oil into fine orange droplets that carry the aroma. It also brings its own salt and sweetness, so go easy on the fish sauce until you've tasted.
- Add the cleaned shrimp meat to the simmering soup, and cook it for 2 minutes, until the shrimp are evenly orange and firm all the way through with no glassy center.Chef's tip Shrimp go from tender to rubbery in well under a minute, and they keep cooking in the hot broth after the heat is off. Pull them when they've just curled into a loose C — a tight O means they're already past it.
- Take the pot off the heat, and only now stir in the fish sauce and lime juice, since lime juice turns bitter and loses its freshness if it boils. Taste the soup to make sure it hits sour, salty, and spicy all at once — if it's missing that edge, add more lime juice.Chef's tip Add half the lime juice, taste, and adjust with the rest. Limes vary a lot in acidity, and the salt in the fish sauce pushes the sourness forward — dumping it all in blind easily gives you a soup that just tastes sour.
- Divide the steaming rice among four bowls, and set them on the table along with the pot. Ladle the tom yum into deep bowls next to the rice bowls, and scatter the cilantro leaves over. The dish is eaten with the rice: spoon the soup with shrimp and mushrooms over the rice a spoonful at a time, so it doesn't turn soggy along the way. The lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves stay in the soup bowl — they've given all their fragrance, but aren't eaten.
