One of the most popular and widely consumed flavors of Thai cuisine is tom yum soup, it's
a combination of spicy, salty and sour.
Today I'm going to make a recipe for some of the best homemade Thai tom yum goong soup.
You'll need about one and a half liters of water, one thumb sized chunk of galangal,
eight kaffir lime leaves, about four stalks of lemongrass, eight cloves of garlic, two
sweet white onions, three red tomatoes, quarter kilo of raw shrimp, red or green Thai chillies
however many you want, a handful bunch of cilantro, two to three handfuls of mushrooms,
I'm using oyster mushrooms here, and four to five limes depending on how sour you like
your soup, two tablespoons of Thai chili paste known as prik pao, one teaspoon of salt, one
teaspoon of salt, two tablespoons of sugar, and about two tablespoons of fish sauce.
The first thing to do is put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
Prepare the galangal by chopping it into thin slices.
For the lemongrass, all you want to use is the bottom of the stalks.
Discard the really tough outer leaves and cut each stalk into 2 - 3 centimeter chunks.
Garlic adds an incredible fragrance to tom yum gong, so I'm going to use about eight
cloves, peeled and then sliced.
Next, chop up the two sweet white onions into large wedges - don't worry they don't need
to be small.
Cut the three tomatoes exactly the same as you cut the onions, into large wedges.
For this soup, I'll be using a quarter kilo of shrimp, mostly for their lovely flavor.
You can use any sort of shrimp but be sure to divine them first.
Most of the time I use Thai red chillies but this time I'll be using little green chillies.
Add as many as you want, I'm going make this pot with about twenty of these little guys.
The next step is to chop up a good handful of cilantro.
Be sloppy, it doesn't need to be small or evenly cut.
Next prepare the mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
Feel free to use whatever mushrooms you can find.
Cut the limes and then squeeze the juice into a separate bowl.
For this tom yum gong I'll be using about four to five limes, but I like it pretty sour!
Once the water has come to a light boil, throw the galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and kaffir
lime leaves into the pot.
Just crunch the kaffir lime leaves with your hand.
Immediately add two heaping tablespoons of roasted prik pao chili paste into the water.
Stir it around and bring the soup to a boil.
Next, add two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt to the soup and stir that
in.
Let the soup boil for about two minutes and then add the chopped chillies.
When you've got a rolling boil going on, it's time to add the shrimp.
Then add the mushrooms, the onions and the tomatoes.
Cook the soup for about five more minutes and then add two tablespoons of fish sauce.
Boil the soup for another two to three minutes and then add the lime juice.
Cook it on high heat for about three more minutes while stirring it quite frequently.
Remember to sample the soup at anytime to see if it needs any other flavoring ingredients.
You may need to add a little more fish sauce or lime juice - up to your own preference.
Finally add the handful of chopped cilantro to the pot.
Lightly stir it in and turn off the heat.
Spoon it into a bowl and you've got some best possible tom yum goong you could ever make!
Thanks for following along with this recipe and hope you enjoyed it.
Be sure to check out eating thai food dot com for lots of more information and tips
about delicious Thai food!