Tom Yum (Thai Hot and Sour Soup)

5 from 13 votes

A comforting Tom Yum Goong recipe for a Thai spicy hot and sour soup made with shrimp, vegetables, and glass noodles to make it into a heartier more filling soup that can be eaten as a meal as well.

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Thai

Servings: Servings

Calories: 907kcal

Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

Tom Yum Soup Base

900 ml low sodium broth (approx. 4 cups, chicken, vegetable, or seafood)
1 cup water
2 stalks lemongrass (smashed and cut into chunks)
8-10 kaffir lime leaves
2 inch galangal (sliced)
1 medium onion (roughly chopped or sliced)
2 cloves garlic (smashed and roughly chopped)
1 birds eye chili (optional, see notes above)

Tom Yum Soup Flavoring (Use These at the End)

1 tablespoon Thai Chili Paste (Nam Prik Pao, see notes above)
2-3 limes (¼ cup of lime juice, add more to adjust to taste)
3 tablespoons fish sauce (add more to adjust to taste)
3 ½ teaspoon sugar (add more to adjust to taste)

Foods to Add

6-8 whole shrimp (fully thawed if using frozen)
75 g dried bean thread noodles (1 bundle, soaked in room temperature water)
1 handful mushrooms (cremini or white)
1 handful snow peas (tips removed)

Additional Ideas for Foods to Add (Pick and Choose)

any type of green vegetable (choy, peppers etc.)
fresh tomato (cut into chunks and added at the end)
fresh pineapple chunks (cooked during the shrimp cooking step)
Thai basil (as a fragrant garnish)

Instructions

Preparation

(Optional if Adding Glass Noodles) Soak the glass noodles in room temperature water for 10 minutes and then drain and set aside.
Remove the first layer of the lemongrass and cut them into large chunks. Use the back of your knife or something blunt like a rolling pin to smash it to release the oils.
Slice the onions and roughly chop the garlic and set it aside.
Slice the galangal and place it in the pot
Cut the vegetables and mushroom into bite-sized pieces and set aside
If you are using frozen shrimp, thaw it before using it.
Peel the shrimp and remove the head but keep the tail on. Set the shells aside for later.
Alternatively, you can keep the heads and shells on as well.
(Optional) Devein the shrimp and set aside
(Optional) If you are using chilies, cut the chilies in half and set them aside.

Making the Tom Yum Soup Base

Rip the kaffir lime leaves in half and place it in the soup pot.
Place the lemongrass, onions, galangal, and garlic into the pot.
If you have shrimp skin and shrimp heads, add that to the pot as well.
Add the broth and water into the pot and set the pot on medium-high heat until it starts to boil
Once it starts to boil, adjust the heat to low heat and put a lid on it. Simmer it for 30 minutes

Putting It Together

Once 30 minutes is up, taste the broth. It shouldn't have any saltiness to it, but it should have some citrus flavor from the lemongrass and lime leaves.
If it doesn't, cook it for another 10-15 minutes.
Once you have finished cooking the broth, remove all the aromatics, shrimp skin, and shrimp head. They are not meant to be eaten, only to flavor the soup.
Turn the heat back up to medium
Add the chili paste ½ tablespoon at a time, and do a taste test to make sure it is not too spicy.
Add up to 1 ½ tablespoons, until it is the right amount of spiciness for you.
Put in the vegetables and mushrooms and cook them for 1-2 minutes.
Add in the shrimp and cook it for 1-1 ½ minutes.
Shrimp cooks very quickly, as long as it is fully thawed.
Turn off the heat
Add in the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar.
Stir and taste. Adjust it to your liking. (Add more lime juice if you like it tart etc)
**Adding the lime juice and fish sauce in after the heat has been turned off, retains the flavor better.
If you are using glass noodles, add them to the pot of soup and let them cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Ladle it into a bowl and enjoy! :)

Notes

When shopping locally for Nam Prik Pao, there might not be a lot of brands that have English on it and the majority of them will not say 'Nam Prik Pao' on the label in English. Look for jars that say 'Chili Paste' or 'Chilli Paste in Oil'. It should contain tamarind, shrimp/anchovy/fish sauce, and chilies in the ingredients list.
Depending on what brand of chili paste (Nam Prik Pao) you buy, they come with varying spiciness level. Add the chili paste ½ a tablespoon at a time doing a taste test each time until it is the right amount of spiciness for you.
Galangal has a fresh and pine-needle flavor and scent and is hard to substitute. If you cannot find it, omit it. Do not substitute it with ginger since it has a completely different flavor.
Use fresh lemongrass stalks. Do not use pre-ground lemongrass because it is very difficult to strain out from the soup. I also don't recommend using lemongrass powder for this soup.
If you cannot find kaffir lime leaves, add an extra stalk of lemongrass instead.
Thai chili paste alone is very spicy. If you don't want your soup overly spicy, you can omit the birds' eye chili.
If you have extra fresh kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, or galangal, you can store them in the freezer in a Ziploc bag for a few months

Nutrition