TOM YUM GOONG
We make a lot of Thai food at home. Like a lot, a lot. There’s something wildly addictive about the fresh, multi-layered flavours in Thai cuisine, and we’ve become obsessive with chasing more of it. Case in point: a few years ago we were vacationing at a beautiful spot in Phuket that served a daily hot breakfast buffet of both Thai and Western food. Normally I would give hotel breakfasts a miss, because a) I don’t normally eat breakfast, and b) I don’t mix well with mornings. But for this place, I set an ALARM every day just to make sure I got to wolf down two plates of their incredibly addictive, dangerously spicy red curry chicken. (Followed by two more hours of food-coma sleep.) I have a pretty high heat tolerance, but I assure you, eating this particular curry before 9am does you no favours. And yet despite the daily self-inflicted pain, I could not stop. I craved more of it; I went to bed thinking about eating it the next morning. Such is the obsession. (I still think about this chicken curry on a regular basis.)
On the same trip, we went to Rawai Seafood Market for some live seafood, and one of the dishes we had was Tom Yum Goong. Most other times I’ve had it, it’s been the clear, brothy version. This particular time, we decided to try the creamy version they offered. And thus a new Thai obsession was born.
Ever since then, we’ve been making this version very regularly at home. We often add fish to the soup as that was how it was served to us at the market (fish cooked two ways, one of which is the soup), but it’s just as delicious with only prawns.
Shoutout to our tiny little kaffir lime tree for contributing to this recipe! Our citrus trees are growing painfully slowly (some might say not at all) but we’re at least getting great use out of this one with all the leaves. The only other farm/garden ingredients here are the Thai birds eye chillies, which has been exceedingly generous this year, and the coriander. (We could have used our own lemongrass but I’m not entirely sure ours aren’t dead…the lemongrass experiment did not work out so well this year.)
Given how developed and robust the flavours in this soup are, it’s surprisingly quick to throw together. There’s no fine chopping required here; in fact I found the chunkier I kept the ingredients, the more the flavours seem to seep into the soup. You can do a lot of the prep while other elements of the soup are cooking too, which makes for more efficient time management - a definite bonus when you’re constantly eating dinner after 9pm.
Basically, while some water is working its way up to boiling in a medium pot, grab the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, chillies and galangal. Keep the galangal in big chunky bits, roughly tear up the lime leaves, and slice the chillies down the middle. I keep the seeds in for extra heat, but discard them if you want a milder soup. Then, a step I greatly enjoy: bashing the lemongrass. This releases its fragrance much more quickly, and, I’ll be honest - satisfyingly therapeutic. Once the water is boiling, throw all of these in then lower to a medium simmer.
While the aromatics are simmering, prep the rest of the ingredients. Shell and devein your prawns, keeping the tail on. If you’re adding fish, cut the fillet up in large chunks - same goes for the tomatoes, onions and mushrooms.
By now, you should be able to smell all the different aromas coming from the pot. At this point, throw in the tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. Then when you add the Thai chilli paste, or Nam Prik Pa0, it REALLY starts to look spicy in that “I-may-regret-this” kind of way. Also the point in the process where I start to get really, really excited about eating it. I mean look at it. It’s like a dare in a pot.
Then, when it returns to a simmer, it’s just a matter of adding the coconut milk (or evaporate milk), prawns and fish, and then the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar to taste. And please, if you love eating at all, DO TASTE your food! I used to be guilty of eating or serving food that I didn’t taste, and it can often be a costly mistake. Who better to get the first preview of your work than yourself, anyway?
Ingredients:
2 litres water
4 stalks lemongrass, outer layer removed
6 cloves garlic, peeled
8 Thai bird’s eye chillies, halved lenthways (seeds can be discarded for less heat)
2-inch piece galangal, peeled and cut into several large chunks
10-15 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
300g oyster/small button mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 medium white onions, cut into wedges
2-3 roma tomatoes, cut into wedges
500g raw or frozen prawns, deveined, tails on
250g white fish (almost any kind that’s meaty will work), cut into chunks (optional)
4 heaping tbsps Nam Prik Pao (Thai chilli paste)
4 tbsps fish sauce (or more to taste)
1 tbsp sugar
Juice of 2-3 limes (or more to taste)
Handful of coriander, roughly chopped
Method:
1. Bring the water to a boil in a medium pot. While the water is reaching temperature, prepare the ingredients. Cut the tops and bottoms off the lemongrass, then give each one a good bash to release its flavour. Once the water is boiling, add in the lemongrass, garlic, chillies, limes leaves and galangal. Bring to a boil, then lower to a medium simmer for about 20 minutes, or until quite aromatic.
2. While the aromatics are boiling, cut up the tomatoes, onions and mushrooms - add these in once the broth becomes very fragrant. Simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes and onions are soft.
3. Add in the Thai chilli paste, stir to dissolve and return to a simmer. Pour in the coconut milk, return to a simmer again, then add the fish sauce.
4. Throw in the prawns and fish (if using), return to a medium simmer, then add in sugar and lime juice. Taste the soup, and adjust seasonings as required (usually more fish sauce is necessary).
5. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.