Tom Yum Goong Recipe (Thai Hot and Sour Prawn Soup)

Adapted from a recipe from Sammy's Organic Thai Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Soup has always been one of my go-to comfort foods. There’s something about a big bowl of broth that just makes me feel at ease. Maybe it’s that, often, a bowl of soup will fill me up without weighing me down. Maybe it’s that, always, a bowl of soup will warm me through all over, inside and out. Maybe it’s just that soup is just that good of a meal.

But I think, what it really is, is that soup holds us to so many memories.

Chicken soup reminds me of those sick days home from school as a child. Lobster bisque reminds me of fancy dinners out with my dad. Packets of ramen remind me of cheap dinners in my college dorm room.

On the road, when traveling, a bowl of cream of chicken soup from a random hostel restaurant in Koh Lanta reminded me, momentarily, of home. And, at home, a bowl of Tom Yum Goong from a local Thai restaurant reminds me, momentarily, of Thailand.

Tom Yum Goong is a hot and sour Thai soup. The strong flavors of lemongrass, galangal (a spice similar to ginger), chilies, and lime merge together to form a flavor explosion that hits every point of your tongue. Spicy. Sour. Sweet.

Tom Yum was one of the dishes on my regular rotation of dishes I ate when traveling Thailand (along with Pad Thai and green curry). Even on a hot, humid, day, unbearable day, the soup was satisfying. Comforting.

Hot and Sour Prawn Soup (Tom Yum Goong)

Adapted from a recipe from Sammy's Organic Thai Cooking School in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Soup, Thai Food

Keyword: food, Recipes, Thai Food, Thailand

Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 5 prawns shelled with tails intact and deveined
• ½ cup straw mushrooms halved or oyster mushrooms
• 1 stalk lemongrass cut into 3 cm. pieces and softly smashed
• 3 slivers galangal
• 2 cherry tomatoes halved
• ½ onion cut quartered
• 2 kaffir lime leaves tear the middle stem off
• 1 stem spring onion sliced
• 1 Tbsp chopped coriander
• 3 bird chillies or to taste, smashed and finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp roasted chilli paste (Nam Prik Phao)
• 2 cups chicken stock or water

Instructions

• Put water or stock in a sauce pan over high heat. Add the lemongrass, galangal and onion, then bring to a boil.
• When boiling, add mushroom and tomatoes, season with roasted chilli paste, fish sauce, sugar, salt, lime juice, and chillies.
• Add prawn and kaffir lime leaves. Heat until the prawns are just cooked.
• Ladle soup into a warm soup bowl. Place prawns on top and garnish with coriander and spring onion.

Notes

Seafood, chicken, or tofu can be used instead of prawns.

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