Thai Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Goong)
Tom Yum Goong is apparently very popular, but even though I have heard about it and probably saw it on some restaurants’ menus, I had never tasted it because until recently I was convinced all the Asian dishes labelled as “sour” were also horribly sweet at the same time. I didn’t really know what to expect and was relieved the result was excellent and not sweetish at all. I was enchanted by the sharpness and complexity of the flavours, much more distinct than in the Thai dishes containing curry pastes or/and coconut milk. The elegance, pureness and freshness of this soup reminded me a bit of the recently discovered Burmese-Style Pork Curry with Ginger, which also doesn’t contain coconut milk, but which is richer and slightly sweet. I also found it surprisingly quick and easy to prepare, the only difficulty lying in the correct balance between the sour and hot flavours.
I found this recipe in “Real Thai. The Best of Thailand’s Regional Cooking” by Nancie Mc Dermott and have only slightly modified it, mainly leaving out canned straw mushrooms which I don’t like (I have increased the amount of shrimps instead) and scaling it down to two servings.
TIPS: Lemongrass and makrut lime leaves freeze very well, so it’s easy to have them all year round. As for the Roast Chili Paste, you can buy it in most Asian shops and do it on your own (see the recipe here).
The author advises shrimps with tails on, but they make the eating process difficult and not very elegant, so I have removed all the tails, apart for two or three, for decoration.
Preparation: about 15 minutes
Ingredients (serves 2 – 3):
750 ml (about 3 cups) chicken stock
300 g (about 10 oz) shrimp, peeled, with or without tails
2 lemongrass stalks
8 fresh or frozen makrut lime (also known as kafir) leaves
2 – 4 fresh small chilies
juice of 1/2 lime
2 Asian green onions or 1 Western green onion (here the green part only), cut diagonally into 2 – 2,5 cm pieces
1/2 – 1 tablespoon roasted chili paste (see the recipe here)
fish sauce to taste
Heat the stock and in the meantime cut off the leafy part of lemongrass stalks and remove the dry outer leaves.
Crush the lemongrass stalks with a wide blade of knife or a handle (I always use a knife handle), so that they release the aroma.
Put 4 lime leaves and lemongrass stalks (you might need to cut them in two if your pan is small) to the stock and let it simmer for about five minutes.
Put the shrimps into the stock, add the Roasted Chili Paste, two tablespoons fish sauce and cook on medium heat until the shrimps are all pink.
Remove the fresh chili stems and crush them slightly.
Put the chilies, the remaining lime leaves, juice from 1/2 lime and green onions into a big serving bowl (I have divided them into individual bowls). Cover with the soup, give it a stir and adjust the taste adding more lime juice, more roasted chili paste or more fish sauce.
This soup can be made in advance and reheated.
Well I’m sure it will come as no surprise that this is one of my all-time favourite soups! I have had it many times in restaurants and although I’ve only ever had one that was sickly sweet, I find their major flaws are usually the glops of red grease floating on top. I’ve had to take a paper napkin to remove the grease once (it was take away, thank goodness; I’m not sure how I would have done that in the restaurant)! Knowing your aversion to greasy things I know for sure I would love this soup. Although it’s not kosher, sometimes I like to add glass noodles to make it a little heartier, plus I adore glass noodles!
I love that you added the lemon grass as a whole to this soup, it imparts the lovely flavour but you can easily remove the woody stem. I usually grind mine up in a coffee grinder and put it into a tea infuser when I make soup, which I can then remove as a whole. I’m going to try your idea in the future. I always have lemon grass in the freezer; my kafir lime leaves come dried, so they keep well in a glass jar. I know you don’t have ginger in this recipe, but I usually keep my ginger nobs in the freezer too, you need not peel them, just grate them on a fine microplane even with the peel, it doesn’t make any difference (or you can pick out the big chunks of peel).
Thanks a lot, Eva. I am so happy to learn you like this soup too. I always find food much greasier (than when home made) in all the Asian restaurants I know (Indians are the worst). I don’t understand why they add so much fat if, for example here, the author suggests only one tablespoon of the chili paste for four servings! So even if you add some more paste to make it more fiery, it will not end up greasy really…
I will remember your napkin trick. Very wise 😉
I think that the most important here is the basic mixture of chilies and seasonings, so I imagine that noodles must be delicious here too.
Lemon grass can be removed at any time (I left it for the photo because the soup was a bit empty…). If you ever find frozen kafir leaves (here they sell them frozen), do not hesitate: I have both frozen and dried and must say that frozen are much much better. I remember I bought a big frozen bag two years ago and still haven’t finished half of it… I keep ginger in the fridge and use it quite quickly (I buy it every two or three weeks), so I don’t need to freeze it.
Sissi, first of all, the photo is amazing! The dark background really enhances the beautiful soup you created, all the colors work so well in here!
I LOVE tom yum soup, though have never attempted or even thought about making them. The recipe you posted is making me crave for some right now!
Hi, Jeno. Thank you so much for the compliments. I’m really flattered! This soup is so easy and quick… you should try making it one day.
I love hot and sour soup whether it’s the Chinese version or this lovely Thai soup with those giant shrimp. It’s so impressive a presentation as well … much more so than own attempts. I really have to work on that. 🙂
The Thai coconut shrimp and fish ball soup of a while back was as close as I’ve ever made to something like this. I’ve never had occasion to use kaffir lime leaves but can only imagine the additional citrus notes that they would add.
Soup is a great idea as we too are experiencing a cold snap here in southwestern Ontario. Oh well, back to my tamales.
Hi Sissi, interestingly I was just watching an episode of My Kitchen Rules for the first time this season and two of the contestants made this soup but with their own twists. I prefer the cleaner version and yours is a fantastic recipe that’s making my mouth water! Oh and I didn’t know you could freeze kaffir lime leaves! I always let them dry out if I have too many.
Thanks a lot, Martyna. Here my Asian shop sells them frozen now, but before they used to sell them fresh and advised me freezing them. They keep much better this way than dried.
Ah I like thai recipes. Quick and (almost) lean cuisine. The photos is so good. I am really ashamed about my poorly shoot from above i-phone pictures…
Yes, sweet and sour dishes mentioned in chinese restaurant always give me the creeps too. Never had those kind of (bad) dishes in China. Wonder why. Concerning the fat: Thai cuisine is not greasy at all, but chinese is. The first time my son visited after moving to China I could hardly recognize him. He left as a slender six-pack dude and came back looking like a michelin man. Since then he is doing his hardest to stay slender, lost 30 kg, but it is really hard for him. They always fry everything in oil and love to eat greasy pork.
Thank you very much, Kiki, for the kind compliments. As for the sweet and sour dishes, I read once that for example in the US, Asian restaurants change every single dish into a sweeter version because Americans don’t like sharp flavours too much. They do the same in Europe I guess… I still remember when I tasted pad thai my friends go crazy for: disgusting, sweet dish! (I am preparing myself to make them one day and see how real pad thai taste…). I read about the Chinese greasy food in my Sichuan cookery book: the author gives “slimmed down” recipes, but still some of them are fatty. Greasy pork is so good… but so fattening too alas 🙁
Real pad thai IS very good. At least the simple version I make is. 🙂 I know some restaurants add ketchup to the sauce for the red colour and sweetness which is just ‘wrong’.
I have no doubts YOUR pad thai are excellent 🙂 I was unfortunately unlucky to taste only sweet, bland awful stuff in restaurants, so I always opted for hot curries and hot soups instead. I will prepare it one day though. I have already bought the noodles.
Hi Sissi, gorgeous soup: light and full of flavors and really like the photo. I always keep some lemongrass in the freezer (for dessert purposes), but will have to check for lime leaves!
Thank you so much, Gourmantine. I am really flattered by your compliments because this soup was really difficult to photograph and I was not very happy with the result (I rarely am!). Lime leaves keep perfectly well in the freezer too.
A beautiful photo of my favorite way to start a Thai meal…I love Tom Yum Goong!
Thank you, Karen. I am glad you like it too. I have already prepared it several times and still cannot believe something so quick and easy can taste so good.
Tom Yum Goong is my favorite Thai soup to order from my favorite Thai joints. But they don’t serve it as elegant as yours. I always want to make this soup but just can’t get a chance or I guess just not inspired to make it. Now that I saw your simple but beautiful presentation, I am adding it to my future post list. Have a good weekend, Sissi! 🙂
Ray, I am really proud you like my presentation. You are such an excellent photographer and, frankly, this soup seemed hopeless from the visual point of view… Have a lovely weekend too.
Love your very light and ‘clean’ way of making this perennial favourite: have actually taken down the recipe > my kitchen, as I do make it rather often! Also with tweaks 🙂 ! Thank you also for the one of Burmese-style pork curry – I have a few ways of cooking this, but yours sounds very moreish !!!
Thanks a lot, Eha. I loved the pork curry and will be making it soon with other meats (chicken, I guess is inevitable 😉 ).
What a gorgeous presentation. Though I haven’t tasted this soup before, I know it would become a fast favorite just reading the ingredients. I wish things like kafir lime leaves weren’t so elusive around here!
Thank you so much, Liz. Here kafir leaves are only available frozen, if you find a good Asian grocery shop, look through their frozen section: they sometimes carry extraordinary things. Kafir leaves are amazing!
Hi Sissi – I love this soup. It’s not often I can find it (why don’t I make it myself? I don’t know… lazy I suppose, but since you posted a recipe here I should finally get around to trying it!). I love the look of yours, you did a great job! I can see the lovely lemongrass stalk nestling under the surface of the soup there, I think, right? Mmm!
By the way – why exactly do they recommend shrimp with tails on? I’ve never understood why they always leave the tails on in asian cuisine. It makes eating them really annoying, especially if they’re covered in a thick and/or sticky sauce. Do the tails impart some super-flavour or something?
Thanks a lot, Charles. This soup is really very easy and quick (as long as you have all the ingredients, but as I said both lemongrass and kafir leaves freeze very well, so I always have them). I don’t think that tails change the taste a lot. A whole unpeeled shrimp has much more flavour though and when I cook them to be eaten cold, I always try to find those with shells on: the taste is really better, but I don’t think a small bit of tail changes anything. It looks nicer, but since it’s impossible to eat such a soup in an aesthetic way… I think in many Asian countries table manners are different and people don’t mind manipulating shrimps with hands.
Wonderful recipe! I love to order Tom Yum Goong at my favorite Thai restaurant here in town. Great photo too! Have a great weekend Sissi!
Thank you very much, Tessa.
I thought Tom Yum Goong had coconut milk, maybe I am talking about a variation. Interesting to see chicken stock instead of fish stock being used. Almost like a soup version of surf and turf:)
There are apparently two main versions of this soup: one is with coconut milk and the other without it. I was glad to discover this one because I tend to associate Thai food too much with coconut milk… My cookery book called for chicken stock in this recipe not fish stock.
I’ve eaten a lot of hot and sour soups in various Asian restaurants and they all seem SO different. Some are thick and some or thin. I prefer the ones with the thinner stock bests which is what it looks like you have made here. This looks relatively simple and quite delicious! Your description definitely has me wanting to make it. Thanks for sharing this and hope you’re having a great weekend Sissi!
Thank you so much, MJ. Even when I prepare soups with coconut milk, I prefer to add just a tiny amount of milk. This hot and sour soup has apparently many different versions and two main “kinds”: with and without coconut milk. I loved the discovery of this very sharp milkless version, but I’m sure I would also like it with milk. It is very easy and quick indeed (as long as you have the required ingredients).
Always loved tom yum. you’ve got a good recipe there! looks pretty simialr to the one I picked up from some Thai locals! And now that you’ve discovered you like it, you can try using tom yum flavours in much more than soup! blend the ingredients like lemongrass and kaffir liem leaves together with the roasted chilli paste etc and then you’ve got an amazing sauce to fry chicken, noodles, or rice with.. tom yum fried rice…mmm..
p.s. Sissi, I finally posted about agar agar. I made traditonal jellies with them though :)Linked to yours for pple wanting ideas for creative mousses/creams etc. x
Thank you so much, Shuhan. I am never sure if the recipes I suspect of being genuine are what they seem to… I must say that I love sour and hot flavours (I have never liked sweet and sour for example, unless it was also hot at the same time…) and strangely I have never tasted it in any Thai restaurant: I did have either hot food or sour, but the sour was probably adapted to suit Western palates… Thanks for the advice to mix these ingredients. I am very intrigued by your agar agar experiments! I am hopping to your blog. Thank you very much for the kind link 🙂
I love Thai soups like this! Fresh, clean layers of flavours that create wonders on the palette!!
Thank you, Sylvia.
I always love Tom Young Goong. It’s a bit spicy but the flavor is so addicting that I just cannot pass the soup. Yours look so good! I seriously need to look for kafir leaves. I’ve been thinking about it but never actually noticed when I shop. I might need to look up Thai grocery store around here.
p.s. Sorry my response to your email has been so delayed. I’m a bit struggling with the volume of work I have lately, but will get to it… 🙂 Shen’s gone on business for 2 weeks and next week my MIL will come. Crazy schedule these days.
Thank you so much, Nami. Maybe you haven’t noticed kafir leaves because they are frozen? My Vietnamese/Thai shop sells them now only frozen and I had to ask them because I would never find them on my own. Thank you for your kind email! And don’t be sorry! I hope you will have wonderful time with you mother-in-law.