Main · Thai
Tom yum soup
Hot, sour and fragrant prawn broth with lemongrass and lime leaves, served with jasmine rice.
Tom yum is a hot and sour Thai soup, intensely aromatic with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, and chilli. It is light yet bold, with a broth that wakes up the palate. Made with prawns or chicken, it is fast, fragrant, and deeply restorative.
Ingredients
- 300 g jasmine rice
- salt, a pinch, for the rice
- 1 L chicken stock, low-salt
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 5 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 thumb galangal, or ginger, thinly sliced
- 2 red chillies, thinly sliced
- 200 g mushrooms, oyster or button, quartered
- 2 tbsp tom yum paste
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 300 g prawns, raw, peeled
- 2 lime, juiced
- 1 small bunch coriander, leaves picked
Method
- Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear. Put it in a pan with 500ml of water and a pinch of salt and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover, turn to the lowest heat and cook until the water is absorbed and steam holes dot the surface, 10 to 12 minutes. Take it off the heat and leave it covered to keep steaming.
- Prepare everything before the soup goes on, since it cooks in minutes: bash the lemongrass with a rolling pin and cut it into 4cm pieces, tear the lime leaves, slice the galangal and chillies, quarter the mushrooms, juice the limes and pick the coriander leaves.
- Bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal and simmer gently for 5 to 6 minutes, until the broth smells strongly of lemongrass and citrus.
- Keep it at a gentle simmer and stir in the tom yum paste and fish sauce until dissolved. Add the mushrooms and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until just soft. The paste brings the chilli, the sweetness and the deep red colour.
- Add the prawns and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until they turn pink, curl and are opaque all the way through. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lime juice and chillies, so the lime keeps its fresh, sharp sourness.
- Taste: it should be sour first, then salty and hot; add more lime, fish sauce or chilli to get there. Ladle into bowls and scatter with coriander. The lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal flavour the broth but are too tough to eat, so leave them in the bowl. Serve with the fluffed jasmine rice on the side.
Tips
- Bruise the lemongrass and tear the lime leaves before adding them so they release maximum aroma into the broth.
- Add the prawns at the very end and cook just until pink so they stay tender.
- Balance the broth with fish sauce, lime juice, and chilli, tasting as you go for the right hot-sour kick.
Common questions
Can I substitute the galangal?
Ginger is the closest swap, though galangal is sharper and more citrusy. The flavour will be milder but still good.
Why is my tom yum bitter?
Lime leaves and lemongrass can turn bitter if simmered too long. Add them to flavour the broth but do not boil them hard for ages.