I used crayfish for my tom yum soup. What protein would you add to your version?
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Tom Yum Soup ♥
Many, many years ago I worked in a restaurant in Rivonia, Sandton. After work, all the restaurant workers from a lot of the local places would gather at a bar for after work drinks. One of our early night choices was a place called the White House. It was festive and the bar was separate from the restaurant. Every now and then I would eat at the restaurant which served Thai cuisine. I have no idea how authentic the food was and my favourite meal has never appeared on any other menu at any other Thai place I have frequented. However, it was here that my love of Thai food began, and I will cook a Thai curry before any other curry as I love the balance of citrus to sour and hot that Thai food has to offer. When we went to Grootbos we had tom yum soup as one course of our dinner.
Today’s inspirational recipe from Lavender and Lime ♥ Tom Yum Soup ♥ #LavenderAndLime Share on X
I enjoyed it so much that I decided to make it at home. When researching Tom Yam soup as it is called in my book food and travels Asia I discovered that Tom Yum refers to a broth made with fragrant herbs and is characterized by the hot and sour flavours. Goong or Kung refers to the version we had at Grootbos, which is served with prawns. We did not have any prawns in the freezer and so I used crayfish instead. You could use chicken / gai or kai as the protein and if you add coconut milk to it you must call the broth Tom Yam Nam Khon. I loved the aromatics of this broth and for my friends who are doing the 5:2 diet, I am sure it will fit in with your eating regime if you use a mixture of seafood – Tom Yum Po Taek or pork Tom Yam Kha Mu. No matter what, I am sure you will enjoy this tom yum soup as much as we did.
Thai information sourced from Wikipedia
Tom Yum Soup
Ingredients
- 750 mls chicken stock
- 4 small spring onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cm root ginger, peeled and thickly sliced
- 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised and thinly sliced
- 4 dried kaffir lime leaves
- 8 slices tinned bamboo shoots, thinly sliced
- 20 mls fish sauce
- 1 lime, cut in half
- 5 mls grated palm sugar
- 2 chillies, split in half
- 2 crayfish tails, cut into chunks
- 3 small tomatoes, halved
- 1 small bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Method
- Place the stock into a large pot and add the spring onions
- Place the ginger into a spice bomb and bring to the boil
- Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour
- Remove the spice bomb and add the lemongrass and lime leaves
- Add back to the stock together with the bamboo shoots
- Simmer for 10 minutes and then add 10mls fish sauce, the juice of half the lime, 2.5mls palm sugar and the chillies
- Simmer for 5 minutes and then add the crayfish
- Simmer for 5 minutes to cook the crayfish
- Remove the spice bomb and add the tomatoes, the rest of the fish sauce, and the rest of the palm sugar if you think it's necessary
- Remove from the heat and add the juice of the other half of the lime
- Garnish with coriander and serve with [balachaung|http://tandysinclair.com/balachaung-dried-shrimp-relish-recipe/} if you want an enhanced shrimp paste flavour
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – Braised Oxtail With Peanut Sauce
- two years ago – Cinnamon Boutique
Tom Yum soup is one of my favourite flavours. I haven’t eaten in in a long time as I never get round to making it and there’s a shortage (meaning none) of Thai restaurants around me in France.
Hopefully this will inspire you to make your own! Have a super day Roger 🙂
Tandy, I adore tom yum, but I’ve never seen a version with crayfish in it! How flash! 🙂 It sounds delicious!
It is because we don’t have prawns at the moment! I am so sure you could use the lovely seafood you get in Sydney for this 🙂
That looks beautiful and I love this soup – have just never made it!
Thanks Tanya, it is so easy to make I could do it again!
MMMMMMM,…what a tasty more lighter soup! I love this!
thank you Sophie 🙂
Thanks so much for the recipe, Tandy. It looks really tasty and so easy to make too. 🙂
Super easy AD 🙂
I would use shrimp!
I wish we could get some nice large shrimp here 🙂
Yum, my favourite and a must when we have Thai!
This could be my new favourite as well!
I’d love to have a crayfish in my fridge, it never happens 🙂 lucky you.
I am very lucky indeed!
This is my favorite Thai soup to order!
Nice to know that!
I like it.
thank you!
One of my very favourite soups also and you do have a lovely recipe! I have made it with all the proteins you mention and sometimes a pair at the same time: I guess chicken and pork would be my preferences and I must admit coconut milk has entered the equation! Oh, do wish I was at a streetstall in Thailand to get the real McCoy!
I must try it with coconut milk – that is such a great idea 🙂
I always order tom yum soup if I’m eating at a Thai restaurant…love its flavor. Yours looks delicious.
Thanks Karen, the flavour of this soup is amazing 🙂
yes it is a lovely soup–i make some tweaks to make it vegetarian–love it
So glad you can tweak it to suit you!