Tom Yum is a popular Thai soup known for its vibrant flavors
and aromatic ingredients. It can be prepared in different variations, including
Tom Yum Goong (with shrimp) and creamy Tom Yum
Tom Yum Goong, or Tom Yum Soup with Shrimp, is a delightful
Thai dish that offers a perfect balance of tartness, tanginess, and savory
flavors. It is relatively easy to make as long as you have a few key
ingredients like Thai chilies, lemongrass, lime leaves, and fish sauce [1].
This version of Tom Yum involves frying the shrimp shells and creating a quick
stock from them to infuse the soup with a rich shrimp flavor. The result is a
flavorful and satisfying soup that showcases the essence of Thai cuisine
Another variation of Tom Yum is the classic clear Tom Yum,
which can be made with whole fresh or peeled frozen prawns/shrimp. This version
is also simple to prepare once you have gathered the necessary ingredients. The
creamy Tom Yum is made using the same broth as the clear version but has a
creamy twist. Both variations offer a delightful taste experience and highlight
the distinct flavors of Thai cuisine.
What goes in Tom Yum Soup
There’s 2 parts to Tom Yum Soup:
- Making the soup broth;
- The stuff that goes in the broth.
Firstly, the broth. In addition to items shown below,
you also need the head and shell of the peeled prawns/shrimp (see image
below). If you can’t get whole prawns, don’t worry – in the recipe notes,
there’s directions for making this with frozen pre-peeled prawns!
Key to this soup broth are all the fragrant fresh herbs and
spices you see below. The kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, chilli and
garlic. They impart such beautiful flavour into the soup!
And here’s the stuff IN the soup.
How to make Tom Yum Soup
The ingredient gathering is the hardest part of this recipe,
being that the aromatics aren’t pantry staples and depending how well stocked
your grocery store is, might require a trip to an Asian store.
The making part is very straight forward, calling for not
much more than plonking and simmering, straining, more plonking then simmering
again. EASY!
See? A lot of plonk and simmer above to make the broth.
And more plonk and simmer below when you add the “stuff”
into the soup.
That’s how you make the clear version of Tom Yum Soup which
I find is the one more commonly served at Thai restaurants in Sydney.
The broth looks deceptively simple – clear and unassuming.
But wait until you try it! It’s got terrific complexity of flavour from the
prawn/shrimp shells – basically it’s a homemade prawn stock with a ton of
aromatics added!!
CAN YOU FREEZE TOM YUM SOUP?
Yes, you can! What I like to do is make the broth, strain it, then just cook the shrimp/prawns and freeze it like that, before the mushrooms and tomato go in. But in fact, it would freeze fine even with the tomato and mushrooms – I just feel it’s better adding them in fresh later.
How to make CREAMY Tom Yum Soup
For the creamy version, you simply take the clear one, add a
good dollop of Thai Chilli paste then a splash of evaporated milk.
I think that people assume that the creamy version is made
with coconut milk, being an ingredient associated with Thai cooking. But it’s
not, it’s evaporated milk.
But coconut milk is also amazing – in fact, that changes Tom
Yum into Tom Kha soup and some people who sampled this preferred that the best!
Tom Yum is a must-try dish for those who appreciate the bold
and complex flavors of Thai cuisine. Whether you choose the shrimp version or
the creamy variation, Tom Yum is sure to impress your taste buds with its zesty
and aromatic profile.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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