Tom Yum Goong

the clear hot and sour prawn soup of Thailand: a broth steeped with lemongrass, galangal, and makrut lime leaf, hung with prawns and straw mushrooms, and finished off the heat with fish sauce, chilli, and a great deal of lime juice

Origin: Thailand

From the journey of Lime.

Thai cooking is organised around a deliberate and constantly adjusted balance of four tastes, sour, salt, sweet, and hot, and no dish states that principle as plainly as tom yum. The name means, literally, boiled and mixed, and the soup is built in two distinct stages: a stock steeped with the three great Thai aromatics, lemongrass, galangal, and the makrut lime leaf, and then a seasoning of fish sauce, chilli, and lime juice that is added off the heat at the very end and adjusted by taste until the cook is satisfied. The lime does the decisive work twice over and in two entirely different forms. Its leaf, torn rather than cut so that the perfume is released at the moment of use, is steeped in the broth and carries a floral, almost soapy scent found nowhere else in cookery; its juice, squeezed in after the pan has left the flame, supplies the sourness that gives the soup its edge, and it must go in late because heat destroys its aroma within a minute. Goong means prawn, and the version made with river prawns is the definitive one; the head fat squeezed out of the shells is what gives the broth its depth and, in the popular nam khon style, its orange colour.

Ingredients

Broth

500 g large raw prawns, shell on, heads reserved
1.2 litre light chicken stock or water
3 stalk lemongrass, bruised and cut into 4 cm lengths
40 g galangal, peeled and sliced into thin coins
8 whole makrut lime leaves, central rib removed and leaves torn
4 whole coriander roots, scraped and bruised (or 8 coriander stalks)
2 tbsp neutral oil

Soup

200 g straw mushrooms, halved, or oyster mushrooms, torn
2 whole shallots, halved and bruised
8 whole red bird's eye chillies, bruised
2 tbsp nam prik pao (Thai roasted chilli paste), optional

To Finish

4 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste
5 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 3 limes), or to taste
1 tsp palm sugar, grated (optional)
1 handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Method

Peel the prawns, keeping the heads and shells. Warm the oil in a large pan and fry the heads and shells over a high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, pressing down hard with a spoon to squeeze out the orange head fat, until they turn deep red and the pan smells strongly of prawn.
Pour in the stock, add the lemongrass, galangal, coriander roots, and half the torn makrut lime leaves, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 12 minutes. Strain the broth into a clean pan and discard the solids.
Return the broth to a simmer. Add the shallots, the mushrooms, the bruised chillies, and the remaining makrut lime leaves, and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the nam prik pao if using.
Add the peeled prawns and cook for 90 seconds only, until they have just turned pink and opaque. Take the pan off the heat immediately.
Off the heat, stir in the fish sauce, the lime juice, and the palm sugar if using. Taste, and adjust: it should be aggressively sour first, salty second, and hot throughout, with any sweetness barely detectable. Scatter with coriander and serve at once with plain rice.

Notes

Fresh makrut lime leaves are far superior to dried and are widely sold frozen, which is almost as good; dried leaves give a fraction of the perfume and should be doubled in quantity. Galangal is not interchangeable with ginger, whose flavour is quite different and much hotter, and the soup is better made without it than made with ginger. Tom yum is a family rather than a single dish: tom yum gai uses chicken, tom yum pla a firm white fish, and tom yum talay mixed seafood, and all are made in the same way. Evaporated milk or coconut milk is stirred in by some cooks for the creamy nam khon version, which is common in Bangkok restaurants and disliked by purists. The dish is not eaten alone but as one of several set out together with rice.

The Gastrographer

Name: Tom Yum Goong
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 500 g large raw prawns, shell on, heads reserved; 1.2 litre light chicken stock or water; 3 stalk lemongrass, bruised and cut into 4 cm lengths; 40 g galangal, peeled and sliced into thin coins; 8 whole makrut lime leaves, central rib removed and leaves torn; 4 whole coriander roots, scraped and bruised (or 8 coriander stalks); 2 tbsp neutral oil; 200 g straw mushrooms, halved, or oyster mushrooms, torn; 2 whole shallots, halved and bruised; 8 whole red bird's eye chillies, bruised; 2 tbsp nam prik pao (Thai roasted chilli paste), optional; 4 tbsp fish sauce, or to taste; 5 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 3 limes), or to taste; 1 tsp palm sugar, grated (optional); 1 handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control