Best Soup I've Ever Had

Passport & Plate - Tom Yum Goong (Hot & Sour Prawn Soup)

Thailand | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
1lb Prawns (between 30 and 45 per lb size is perfect, preferably with heads attached)
-or- 0.5 lb Prawns, headless.
1 tbspn vegetable oil.
6 cups Water
12 Kaffir Lime Leaves (rub to bruise the leaves and help release flavor)
4 stalks Lemongrass (hit with back of a chefs knife to bruise and release flavor and oils, cut into 2 inch pieces)
6 slices Galangal (or Ginger. My wife prefers the galangal while I prefer the ginger)
1 cup Shiitake Mushroom, sliced
2-3 Limes, juiced
1/4 cup Fish Sauce
2 tbsp Nam Prik Pao (If you can't find this in your local asian store, it is quite easy to make. Many recipes online)
1-3 Red Thai Chilies (depending on your heat tolerance)

 

How to prepare this recipe
Tom Yum Goong is a hot and sour soup from Thailand with an incredible depth and balance of flavor. There are many variations on this recipe by region and even by family like many great recipes. This version is as close as we could find to the first time we ever had it in Bangkok and still knocks my socks off every time I have it.

If you are lucky enough to find your prawns with the heads on then proceed to removing the prawn heads by grabbing head in one hand and tail int he other and twisting. The head should come right off with very little practice. Next rinse, peel and devein the prawns, as well as squeeze the red/orange fat from the heads into a separate bowl. keeping the shells and heads to one side and the head fat to another side.

However, It is often hard to find prawns with the heads still on. In that case just peel and devein the prawns, keeping the shells to the side.

To make the Stock for the Soup
Start a soup pot on medium heat and add the oil and prawn shells (and heads if you have them) and heat for a couple minutes to release the flavor in the shells which are fat soluable). Next add the water, 8 of the lime leaves, 2/3 of the lemongrass pieces and 4 slices of the galangal or ginger. Keep the rest aside for the soup. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into a bowl, crushing the bits of shell and aromatics to squeeze out all the flavor. This stock can be set aside in the fridge for days if necessary until you are ready to assemble your soup.

To assemble the soup
Heat the stock to a low boil (high simmer), then add the prawns, fat from the prawn heads, mushrooms and the reserved lime leaves, lemongrass and galangal/ginger. When the prawns are cooked through (a couple minutes), turn off the heat and season with the fish sauce, lime juice, Nam Prik Pao and Thai chilies. Taste and add more lime juice or fish sauce if needed.

Can serve family style in a big bowl in the middle of the table or separate servings. Enjoy!

 

The story behind this recipe
One of the first trips my wife and I took together when we were still dating was to Bangkok, Thailand for 3 weeks in 2005. Fortunately at the time we were working at the same company and were sent to Thailand together on a business trip. We've been married for about nine years now and having gone on many other food vacations, Bangkok is still the most memorable and amazing city for food we have been to yet.

The most incredible food experience we had there was actually while we were working. For lunch our customer drove us out to the country a little off the beaten path to a little farmhouse set next to a small river. I'm not sure whether this was actually a restaurant or not as we were the only ones there but the people were incredibly friendly and served us some amazing dishes in a gazebo next to the river. The star of the show though was the Tom Yum Goong soup which has an incredible balance of spicy and tart broth with sweet prawns.

Now my wife and I like things pretty spicy but our tolerance is not really that high compared to many other cultures. This soup had both of us a sweating mess in no time and our faces were on fire at how spicy it was. I don't actually remember anything hotter in my life. We could barely speak to each other and were using hand signs to indicate how spicy we thought it was to each other. It was HOT! Fortunately we both managed to finish our bowls and tell our gracious hosts how good we thought it was. And then we each... had another bowl! Yes even though we were sweaty, blushing messes on a business trip in front of our customers, we went back for more it was that incredibly good!

After we returned home we spent months figuring out how to make this at ourselves and eventually pretty much got it down. The recipe included here is the result of our trials and we really hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to adjust the chilies and nam prick pow to your level of heat tolerance. It is still pretty amazing set to a lower volume.

Cheers!