Born and raised in a tropical island, I am all about sun and warmth. I absolutely dread cold weather and the mere presence of sun lights me up like a glowing stick. I am inherently happier and more cheerful when the sun is out.
This month has been mostly cold and wet–lots of rain, cloudy, and yucky. I feel moody when the sky is grey. On chilly and gloomy days, I usually make myself Tom Yum soup to lift my spirit. Nothing feels better than downing a bowl of piping hot, spicy, sour, and highly addictive Tom Yum soup…
Tom Yum is probably one of the most well-known dishes from Thailand. It’s uniquely Thai and has become so famous that they made a movie with the name “Tom Yum Goong.” I kid you not.
Over the years, I have perfected my Tom Yum recipe. I can whip it up in less than 30 minutes. Before you try my Tom Yum recipe, I wanted to warn you that you will need to start saving prawn/shrimp heads. A good stock guarantees the great taste of Tom Yum, much like dashi to Japanese noodle soup. Another secret is the use of nam prik pao (Thai roasted chili paste). Of course, you can’t do without the aromatics: galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, bird’s eye chilies, etc. Once you have these ingredients, you will have the best bowl of homemade tom yum you’ve ever tasted, I promise.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups shrimp stock
10-12 shrimp or 8 oz (head-on and shell-on but chop the eyes part off. Devein if you wish)
3 tablespoons lime juice
6 bird’s eyes chilies (pounded)
3 slices galangal
6 kaffir lime leaves (bruised)
2 tablespoons nam prik pao (Thai roasted chili paste)
2 teaspoons fish sauce or to taste
1 stalk lemongrass (use the white part only, pounded with a cleaver)
6 canned straw mushrooms / fresh oyster mushrooms / fresh or canned button mushrooms
Method:
In a pot, bring 3 cups of water to boil. Then add a big handful of shrimp/prawn heads. Boil the shrimp head until the water turns slightly orange in color. Press the shrimp heads with spatula to extract the “goodies” from their heads. Let the stock reduce to slightly more than 2 1/2 cups. Drain the shrimp stock and discard the shrimp heads.
Add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, bird’s eye chilies, mushrooms, nam prik bao to the shrimp stock and bring it to boil. Add in the shrimp and fish sauce. Lastly, add the lime juice (if you add lime juice too early, the soup might turn bitter). Boil until the shrimps are cooked, dish out and serve hot.
Cook’s Note:
You can use also chicken, a combination of chicken plus shrimp, or seafood combination (shrimp, squid, scallops, green-lipped mussels) for tom yum soup. It’s really up to you, but the most popular tom yum is tom yum goong, goong means prawns.
Related Posts:
- Tom Kha Gai Recipe (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup)
- Clams Recipe: Hoy Lai Ped (Spicy Clams in Thai Roasted Chili Paste)
- Green Curry Recipe
- Thai Curry
- Nabe (Yosenabe/Japanese Hot Pot)
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks great, I love making soup in the winter.
Two questions though… Is this enough for one person? Also, I’d be nervous about saving shrimp heads. How do you store them and for how long?
Thanks.
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Wow, what a delicious-mouth-watering Tom Yam!!! After seeing your picture, my stomach is drumming at this time of hour – MIDNIGHT!!!! Lucky me that I can just go out to a road side store to order one, and not have to cook!!!
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Your Tom Yum soup full of udang! And the soup base looks very thick – must be darn good!
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Your Tom Yum Goong looks great. So many goong in that bowl! I really appreciate having this recipe, and also the advice to save prawn heads. I agree that good food brightens any gloomy day, and this recipe definitely looks like it would do the trick. Thanks for sharing this!
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This looks great, I love making soup in the winter.
Two questions though… Is this enough for one person? Also, I’d be nervous about saving shrimp heads. How do you store them and for how long?
Thanks.
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Fabulous stuff – what a great, great looking bowl of food.
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That looks extremely good. Your tom yum broth looks so lemak! If i could only reach…through…the…screen…..
:P
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You truly have an eye for photography! Your dishes “jump” out at us through the blog!
Sorry to put a damper though … I would suggest that you put one of those “transparent-nish” watermark right across your photos. Identifying Rasa Malaysia at the bottom of the photo would still allow for copyright thefts since that portion can be easily cropped off.
You may also want to check out photo-sites like Flickr. They are able to have photos uploaded in their site, yet viewers are unable to copy the photos.
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This soup looks so wonderful! It is a favorite of mine whenever I’m at a Thai restaurant. I’ll have to try my hand at making some for myself. I even have a bag of shrimp shells in my freezer!
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I’m so glad to finally learn how to make this soup! Now I won’t have to always get it from a restaurant.
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I see you’ve added a copyright to your pics! Good! I have to agree with CCC though- the watermark needs to be typed across part of your food photo or it can still be stolen (I know… it takes away from the beauty of the photo, but it’s sometimes necessary to protect). Lovely dish!
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Oooo how about one on Laksa Johor, if you haven’t posted a recipe already….
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Adore Tom Yam Goong. I have been reading thorugh your open letters to the Blog Pic Stealers and it is horrible that this is happening. I am sorry to hear that your adorable pictures are being kidnapped and victimised :-(
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I actually was just looking in my freezer the other night and was trying to figure out what on earth to do with my shrimp stock…what serendipity!
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Looks like a great recipe! i’ve never attempted to make tom yum on my own… need to go look for nam prik pao in penang! :)
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Great tomyam… the prawns are big and delicious!
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Mmm! Pair it with a bottle of Belgian Tripel and I am so there. It would bring out all the magical elements that the kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass bring to the soup.
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You rock for making tom yum from scratch! :) I love this…especially when it is spicy enough to make me sniffle! I’ll start saving shrimp heads now…
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Looks great, as with all photography you do.
Hmmm, reminds me… you should watermark your photos across the center, so thieving “chefs” can’t thieve your good work and effort! :)
Uddawise, next t’ing ya know, dis gonna be some kind Chef Al original!!
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You might want to watermark your picture a lil higher than that. Chef Rosas might crop away the watermark and eventually steal pics again.
Btw, awesome tomyum recipe thanks :)
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Is it me, or I just find tom yum better outside of Thailand? Tom yam in Malaysia and tom yum in U.S. are just yummier. Why is that? I’ve been to Bangkok several times, and each time, I will ask local Thais where to get a good bowl of tom yum gai. Each time, I must say I am disappointed :(
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Yum! Yum!I can feel the sourness & spiciness.
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Oh noooo… Tom Yum is my favourite! This looks extremely delicious… gimme some!
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Me and my luv very luv tom yam…
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HI,
How can i make the shrimp stock? coudnt seem to find in your post.
Can you reply to my email add. Many thanks .
cheers
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I have only cooked the white soup base Tom Yum Goong before. But I have received a small jar of chili paste from my Thai counterpart and I shall put it to good use with this recipe! Thanks!
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Thanks for recipe! I love tom yum so I’ll have to start saving prawn heads for this recipe… :)
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hi ,
i have been trying to find out how many people your recipe serves?
please help asap , we are making this for 4 people for dinner in a few hours !!!
kind thanks
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
My recipe serves two people.
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