Spicy Tom Yum With Prawns Recipe
Tom yum is the most well-known and popular soup of Thailand, often sold and eaten on the street. It’s a simple hot and sour broth, usually with prawns or chicken. The amount of fish sauce and lime juice is a personal preference Just add a little at a time until you are satisfied with the balance of flavours.
Ingredients
Paste5 red shallots, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
5 cm (2 in) piece ginger, roughly chopped
4 cm (1 1/2 in) piece galangal, roughly chopped
4 red bird’s eye chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
3 stalks lemongrass (white end only), finely sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
5 coriander (cilantro) roots, washed and roughly chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh pineapple, roughly chopped
1 large green apple, roughly chopped (peel and core included)
Soup
1 litre (2 pints) water
50 g (1½ oz) dried rice-stick noodles
80 ml (2½ fl oz) lime juice
3 tablespoons fi sh sauce
2 tablespoons shaved palm sugar
18 large raw prawns, peeled and de-veined
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
1 long red chilli, finely sliced
1 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
¼cup fried shallots
Directions
Paste
Using a mortar and pestle pound the shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, chillies, lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander roots to a coarse paste. Add the tomatoes, pineapple and apple and continue pounding until you achieve a smooth paste. Alternatively, blend the initial paste with the tomatoes, pineapple and apple in a food processor.
Soup
Place the paste and water in a medium-sized pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for 20 minutes (or ideally, until completely cooled) to allow the flavours to develop.
Cover the noodles with boiling water and leave for a minute or until tender. Drain and refresh under cold water.
Strain the soup and return to the heat adding the lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar. Taste for a balance of flavours, adjusting if required. When simmering, add the prawns and cook for 2–3 minutes. Stir through the noodles.
To finish, stir through the cherry tomatoes, lime leaves, chilli, coriander and fried shallots and ladle into serving bowls.