Shrimp Tom Yum
Cooked with fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce and crushed red chilies, shrimp tom yum is Thailand in a bowl.
Ingredients
- 6 cups shrimp broth
- 3 slices galangal dried is fine
- 2 whole stalks lemongrass tied into a bundle
- 2 shallots peeled and halved
- 2 pairs kaffir lime leaves center ribs removed and discarded
- 2 bird's eye chilies slit
- 2 tomatoes cut into wedges
- 24 shelled shrimps (see notes after the recipe)
- fish sauce
- lime juice (see notes after the recipe)
- torn cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Pour the broth into a pot and bring to the boil.
- Drop the galangal slices, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chilies and tomatoes into the broth. Lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the shrimps to the broth.
- If the broth is unseasoned or underseasoned, add fish sauce.
- Cover the pot once more and simmer for five minutes, or just long enough to cook the shrimps but without overcooking them.
- Taste the broth. Add more fish sauce, if needed.
- Drizzle in the lime juice, a tablespoonful at a time, tasting and adding as you go along until a good balance of salty and sour is achieved.
- Ladle your hot and sour shrimp tom yum into bowls, sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately.
Notes
Traditional shrimp tom yum uses unshelled shrimps, heads attached, which when simmered make a richly flavored broth. You may use frozen shelled shrimps AND shrimp broth without losing flavor.
Juice from regular limes is traditional for tom yum, but we have a kaffir lime tree and we use the juice from its fruit. If lime juice isn’t available, go ahead and use lemon or kalamansi juice.
Updated from a recipe originally published in 04/10/2020
Updated from a recipe originally published in 04/10/2020
