Tom Saep

The Isan hot and sour soup of pork ribs in a clear broth of lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaf, sharpened with toasted dried chilli and lime and finished with a heap of sawtooth coriander

Origin: Khon Kaen & the Khorat Plateau

From the journey of Culantro.

Saep is the Isan and Lao word for the taste the north-east of Thailand prizes above all others: fiery, sour, salty, and savoury at once. Tom saep is that taste in soup form. It is a cousin of the better-known tom yum of central Thailand, but a leaner and fiercer one: there is no roasted chilli paste, no coconut milk, and no sugar to round it off, only a clear broth of pork ribs perfumed with lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaf, soured with lime, salted with fish sauce, and heated with toasted dried chilli flakes. The herb that finishes it is phak chi farang, culantro, and it is the signature of the dish. The Thai name means foreign coriander, or more precisely European coriander, farang being the word for a Westerner, which records that the plant was understood to be an import. It suits a soup like this far better than ordinary coriander, because it keeps its smell in a hot broth where coriander leaf would collapse, and Isan cooks put it in by the handful with shallot and a little spring onion just before the pot comes off the heat. Tom saep is eaten with sticky rice, grilled meat, and a green papaya salad, and it has a reputation across Thailand as the thing to eat the morning after.

Ingredients

Broth

800 g pork ribs, cut into short pieces
1.8 l water
3 lemongrass stalks, cut into lengths and bruised
40 g galangal, sliced
6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
4 shallots, halved and bruised

Seasoning

4 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp toasted dried chilli flakes, or to taste
4 bird's eye chillies, crushed

To Finish

20 g phak chi farang (culantro), sliced across into 2 cm lengths
2 spring onions, sliced
3 shallots, thinly sliced

Method

Put the ribs in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, drain, and rinse.
Return the ribs to the clean pot with the 1.8 litres of water, lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, and bruised shallots. Simmer gently for 45 minutes to an hour, until the meat is tender.
Take off the heat and season with the fish sauce, lime juice, dried chilli, and crushed bird's eye chillies.
Taste: it should be sharply sour, salty, and hot in roughly equal measure. Adjust.
Throw in the culantro, spring onions, and sliced shallots, stir once, and serve at once with sticky rice.

Notes

To toast chilli flakes, dry-fry whole dried chillies until they darken and smell smoky, cool, and pound coarsely. Beef tripe and tendon make the other classic tom saep, cooked in the same way for rather longer.

The Gastrographer

Name: Tom Saep
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Khon Kaen & the Khorat Plateau
Ingredients: 800 g pork ribs, cut into short pieces; 1.8 l water; 3 lemongrass stalks, cut into lengths and bruised; 40 g galangal, sliced; 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn; 4 shallots, halved and bruised; 4 tbsp fish sauce; 4 tbsp lime juice; 1 tbsp toasted dried chilli flakes, or to taste; 4 bird's eye chillies, crushed; 20 g phak chi farang (culantro), sliced across into 2 cm lengths; 2 spring onions, sliced; 3 shallots, thinly sliced

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control