Thai Spicy Soup with Prawns (Tom Yam Goong - ต้มยำกุ้ง)

Background Tom Yam Koong or Thai Spicy Prawn Soup is the most popular Thai dish; it's very delicious and super easy to make.When I was in Thailand I didn't like to cook at all ,but Tom Yam Koong was only one Thai dish that I cooked for myself sometime because it's so easy and taset fantastic. Tom Yam Koong and Tom Kla Kai are very similar because they both have a aroma from the same herbs, lemon glass, galangal, and kaffir lime live.The seasoning are almost the same except Tom yam Goong is added chili paste.If you can make Tom Kla Kai, you will be able to make Tom Yam Koong and vice versa.Actually,Tom Yam Kung is easier than Tom Kla because you don't need coconut milk. In Thailand we like to make Tom Yam Koong with the jumbo fresh water prawns the kind that has a big head and has red hard thing in its head.We call that red thing prawn's fat and this part is the most delicious part.So, we add hold part of prawn, we don't throw away the head. But, I have never find this kind of prawn in the US; prawns that I have here in the US. don't have a special fat in their head so I use only the body and I found that American don't like to eat the prawn's head anyways. Please note that this Tom Yam Goong in the Thai Young coconut is the special menu.I have never seen any Thai restaurants in the U.S.serve this special Tom Yam Goong.But I Thailand a lot of restaurants offer this recipe.

Variations You can replace the prawn with any kind of meat you like, or even tofu or other vegetables, but prawn is the most popular for this menu item because prawns' fat add taste and red color to the soup. Most people are careful not to eat the herbs because they hard to chew and have a strong flavor, but if you cut them smaller and thinner you can eat them. You can place the herbs and chilies in a sachet or a wire mesh ball while the soup is boiling and remove before serving to make it safer for people who are not used to eating Thai food - accidentally biting into a chili will not be a good experience for most people. We have 2 kind of Tom Yam; the first one is the clear soup which doesn't have to add chili paste so the soup has clear color. Another is thick or creamy soup which we add chili paste and milk into the soup, so this kind has thick and kind of red color.The thick one is the one that we show in the video.Don't ask me which one is more delicious because it depend on what kind you like.Some Thai restaurant make the clear soup and some make the thick soup, doesn't matter they all Tom Yam.So you can try them both and see which one you like, but the clear soup is easy because you don't need the chili paste. Well again, feel free to explore this recipe and add more or less flavor to make it the way you like, but make small changes and taste first before adding more. Please note that all Thai recipes are flexible as in Thailand people do not normally measure ingredients, just estimate, taste and add more until it is right. At CookingThaiFood.Com we have measured and timed our own authentic Thai recipes to give you a starting point. For people who are not used to eating spicy food we recommend starting with fewer chilies, and if you feel the flavor is too mild then add more, or if you don't want any spice then omit the chilies completely.

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