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Tom yam classic

Classic Tom Yum

This spicy Thai soup is a great change of pace from your usual bowl of soup — as long as you love bold, fiery flavors. It's a popular dish back in Thailand, and it packs real heat. The backbone of tom yum is chicken broth (fish broth works too), and the soup usually gets loaded with shrimp, chicken, fish, or other seafood. That's why no two bowls of Thai soup ever taste quite the same.

Truth is, it's tough to nail the truly authentic version at home, since lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime — the soul of tom yum — aren't always easy to track down. But you can usually find a tom yum powder or paste at the store that already has all those spices blended in.

Tom yum has a bright citrusy flavor and aroma, and it's traditionally served with a side bowl of rice. The big pieces in the soup are eaten with chopsticks, the rest with a little Thai spoon — or you can dip a spoonful of rice straight into the broth. The Western version is usually served without rice.

wella

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Chicken broth

300

Shrimp

Button mushrooms

Onion

Tomato

Lemongrass

Lemon juice

Ginger

Salt

Sugar

0.5

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 71 % 5 g

Fats 0 % 0 g

Carbohydrates 29 % 2 g

33 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 55 min

Step 1:

Simmer a chicken breast to get about 300 ml (1¼ cups) of rich, flavorful broth. While the meat cooks (don't salt the broth!), prep the rest of your ingredients. Start with the spices — I used a ready-made tom yum spice kit with the basics.
Step 2:

Slice the lemongrass and cut the galangal. Don't slice the chili peppers — drop them in whole. The kaffir lime leaves were such a gorgeous deep green that I almost hated to cut them, but I tore them into small pieces. Keep in mind you can add all of these whole, since the spices aren't meant to be eaten — they're left in the bowl for looks and aroma, or fished out altogether (especially if they've been chopped).
Step 3:

Add all of it to the broth (after removing the chicken, and the shrimp heads and shells if you used them).
Step 4:

After about five minutes at a gentle simmer, stir in 1 tsp of chili paste (it's spicy, so you may not need any salt), and quarter the clean, dry button mushrooms (if they're small, leave them as is).
Step 5:

Cut the onion into wedges.
Step 6:

Cut the tomato into wedges the same way.
Step 7:

If you're using fresh shrimp (jumbo shrimp are ideal), peel and clean them well. If they're frozen, thaw them first.
Step 8:

Add the onion and mushrooms to the soup.
Step 9:

About 10 minutes later, add the shrimp, tomato, and fish sauce (¼ tsp). Stir everything together, bring it to a boil, and turn off the heat after a minute. Everything will finish cooking — don't worry. The soup keeps cooking in the residual heat even after the burner is off.
Step 10:

Squeeze fresh lemon juice into the soup and scatter chopped cilantro or other herbs on top. Taste and adjust the salt and sugar to balance it out. One spoonful of this Thai soup and you'll forget about everything else — it's that good!

A few extra tips: the broth turns out even richer if you toss the rinsed shrimp heads and shells into the pot at the end. Galangal can be swapped for ginger, and the other spices have plenty of easy substitutes at the store. No jumbo shrimp on hand but craving the soup? Use whatever shrimp you've got. Feel free to adjust the spices and amounts to taste. For a milder soup, stir in some coconut milk — though it isn't part of the classic Thai recipe. And don't forget to clean the shrimp thoroughly: remove the shell, devein the back, trim the legs, and so on.