Tom Yum Goong ‘Original’

Original of Spicy clear soup with shrimps or “tom yum” goong, called in Thai – ต้มยำกุ้งแบบดั้งเดิม

Our presentation for today is a vibrant Thai soup, “Tom Yum”. So today I present “tom yum” soup which in its original form excluded any cream with exciting flavours and aromas with fragrant lemon grass, great galangal root, kaffir limes and chili pepper that make this soup always on any list of popular Thai spa cuisine.

My presentation included two parts; Base stock and cooking “tom yum goong”.

In the original recipe, the ingredients – each of which are considered by Thai doctors to possess properties for treating respiratory ailments – are boiled together into a medicinal brew. Those suffering from symptoms related to colds, including stuffy noses, chest congestion and hacking coughts, would swear by the curative powers of tom yum. Whether by sheer coincidence, or a deliberate decision by tom yum’s creator, these ingredients are also staple found in a typical Thai kitchen. – Bangkok Post/Food

Shrimp stock for “tom yum goong” (make 3-4 portions)

1,800 – 2,000 ml Water

a pinch of sea salt

3 – 5 thick slices Fresh great galangal, crushed

1 stalks Lemon grass, crushed to have the fragrant of lemongrass oil

5 – 7 Kaffir limes leaves, shred

*coriander roots, is not available for our presentation today

250-300 grams Head shrimps shells, use only the heads, wash before

0.5 – 1 Tbsp Roasted chili jam

Note: Our presentation of “Tom Yum Goong” features fresh shrimps/prawns with heads on for cooking soup and for cooking “Tom Yum” later.

Preparation

Bring water to a boil, add sea salt and heads of shrimps…let the shrimps cooking for 10 minutes then add fresh galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves let it boil just a few minutes until herbs fragrant, then remove a shrimps heads and herbs by a slot spoon.

Keep the shrimps heads for “tom yum goong” stock

Cooking “tom yum goong” (one portion)

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups Shrimps stock

1/4 tsp Roasted chili in oil (chili jam)

0.5 tbsp Great galangal, fine slices

0.5 tbsp Lemon grass, peeling off and discarding one-two layers of the woody exterior leaves and use only the lower of the stalk, thinly slices

1/4 cup your favourite mushrooms, cut bite size

1 tbsp fish sauce, estimated

1.5 tbsp fresh squeeze lime juice

7-9 Fresh Prawns or shrimps, today I use shrimps, deveined and keep some shrimps with head on for cooking “tom yum”

1-5 fresh Thai chili, option

Garnishes: kaffir lime leaves (fine slices), coriander spring, chili strips

Preparation

1. Preparation for all fresh ingredients. A small sauce pan add shrimp stock and bring to a boil, when the stock is boiling add mushrooms to boil just a few minutes until cooked. Add shrimps then turn off the stove and remove a sauce pan so that the shrimps will be not over cooked until hard or shorten. At this point we do seasoning fresh squeeze lime juice and fish sauce…. Adjust to your prefer taste. 🙂

note: we add fresh squeeze lime juice last to prevent a bitter flavour.