Thai · Main · From Noodle soups from scratch
Tom yum noodle soup
Hot and sour shrimp soup
When I'm sick, I don't want chicken noodle soup. I want tom yum.
This is the clear one: hot, sour, and no coconut milk. The broth starts from a shrimp stock made with the heads and shells of the prawns that end up in the bowl.
I like mine with a lot of kick and punch, so I go heavy on the nam prik pao and fish sauce. Pull the prawns out as soon as they curl, and add the lime last.
Adapted from RecipeTin Eats' tom yum goong (opens in a new tab), adjusted to taste, with shrimp stock in place of the water and chicken stock, and nam prik pao in the clear soup.
- Yield
- 4 bowls
- Time
- About 40 minutes, plus the shrimp stock
Ingredients
Soup
- 5 cupsshrimp stock
- 2 stalkslemongrass, outer layers off, smashed, in 2-inch pieces
- 2-inch piecegalangal, sliced thin (about 8 slices)
- 8makrut lime leaves, torn, center rib pulled out
- 3garlic cloves
- 6–10Thai bird's eye chilies. Start at 6.
- ¼small white onion, in wedges
- 200 goyster mushrooms, torn by hand. Halved canned straw mushrooms are the classic.
- 2 smallroma tomatoes, in wedges
- ¼ cupnam prik pao (Mae Pranom), for smoky heat. Start with 2 tbsp for a milder bowl.
- 1–1½ tspsugar
- 6 tbspfish sauce. Start with 4 tbsp for a milder bowl.
- 6–8 tbsplime juice (4 to 5 limes)
- 8big black tiger prawns, head-on, peeled with tails on. Save the heads and shells for the stock.
Bowls
- 8 ozthin rice noodles (Three Ladies rice stick, size S), 2 oz a bowl
- Cilantro
- Chili flakes and lime wedges, for the table
Method
- Make the shrimp stock first. Soak the noodles in warm water for 30 minutes.
- Pound the garlic and chilies together in a mortar until they're broken up. Smash the lemongrass.
- Bring the stock to a boil. Add the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, garlic, and chilies, and simmer 5 minutes.
- Simmer the mushrooms and onion for 2 minutes, then drop in the tomatoes for the last minute.
- Stir in the nam prik pao, fish sauce, and sugar.
- Add the prawns and cook just until they curl and turn pink, about 2 minutes. Pull them out, otherwise they'll get rubbery.
- Turn off the heat and add the lime juice last. Boiled lime goes bitter.
- Taste: sour first, then hot, then salty. Adjust with lime, chilies, and fish sauce.
- Bring a separate pot of water to a boil. Dip the soaked noodles in for 20 to 30 seconds and drain them into the bowls.
- Ladle the soup over, put the prawns back on top, and finish with cilantro.
Notes
- The nam prik pao is where the smoky heat and the red color come from. Leave it out for a fully clear broth.
- Cook the noodles in their own pot. Their starch clouds the broth. Egg noodles work too.
What I use
- Cleaver for bones and big jobs: Zhang Xiao Quan 7.3" (opens in a new tab) (for smashing the lemongrass)
- Mortar and pestle: ChefSofi, 1.5 cup (opens in a new tab) (for pounding the garlic and chilies)
- Thai chili paste (nam prik pao): Mae Pranom, 8 oz (opens in a new tab) (the smoky heat and the red color)
- Noodle soup bowls: Dyware 38 oz, set of 4 (opens in a new tab)
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