Tom Yum: How to Make Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup is an iconic steaming goodness bowl of bold, aromatic flavour that comes with a spicy kick that is quite powerful. Tom Yum Goong comes from Thai ingredients such as lemongrass, chilli, galangal, kaffier lime leaves, shallots, fresh lime juice, and plenty of fish sauce.

Fresh shrimps and mushrooms add the meat into the bowl with a creaminess that comes from coconut milk.

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup is one of the best Thai foods that is served in almost every restaurant in Thailand.

THAI SPICY SHRIMP SOUP

  • Author: Romae Chanice Marquez
  • Recipe Category: Soup/Main Dish
  • Cuisine: Thai

The soup’s authentic flavour comes from the use of spices like kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, fish sauce, and Galangal (ginger). If desired, you can serve this dish with rice noodles. The whole preparation and cooking time will last for at least an hour and 30 minutes, and this recipe serves four people.

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup is a well-regarded dish in Thailand. You can add noodles into the dish, as well. Photo credits to: https://www.tasteofthailand.org/tom-yum-goong-spicy-prawn-soup/.

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds of medium shrimp
  • 10 cups of water
  • 1/2 cup of chopped fresh ginger (if you can’t find Galangal), peeled
  • 1/2 cup of pieces peeled fresh lemongrass
  • 6 fresh lime leaves
  • 1/2 cup of canned straw mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons of roasted red chilli paste
  • 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
  • 2 Thai chillies
  • 4 lime wedges
  • 6 tablespoons of chopped dry-roasted peanuts
  • 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 cup of chopped green onions

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup Instructions

Step 1: Peel the shrimp and reserve the shells aside. Combine the shrimp shells and 7 cups of water. Simmer and cook for at least one hour — strain broth into a bowl and discard the solids.

Step 2: Mix the broth and the remaining 3 cups of water in a large saucepan. Bring to boil.

Step 3: Add the ginger, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain broth mixture into a bowl and discard the solids.

Step 4: Place back the broth mixture into the pan. Add mushrooms, chilli paste, chillies, and fish sauce. Bring to boil.

Step 5: Stir the shrimp, green onions, and cilantro. Do this for 3 minutes. Add the fresh lime juice.

Step 6: Add the soup into small bowls and top with peanuts. Serve the dish with lime wedges.

Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup Additional Information

  • Per serving has 282 calories, 10 g of fat, 1.5 g of saturated fat, 39.2 g of protein and 8.7 g of carbohydrates.
  • You have the option to add eight ounces of rice noodles just before the shrimp and cook.
  • Add coconut milk to the broth to add creaminess.
  • You can also add vegetables if you desire.
  • This dish serves four people and has a cook/prep time of 1 1/2 hours.

About Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup

The Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup has an enticing combination of sourness, creaminess, and spiciness. This dish is quick to make, just like almost all Thai dishes. With a considerable influence from Chinese cuisine, Thai foods are independently savoury in their own ways.

The dish’s traditional name, Tom Yum Goong, refers to the boiling process from the word tom, while “yum” refers to a kind of Lao and Thai spicy and sour salad. Tom Yum, then, is a Lao and Thai hot and sour soup. 

Thai cuisine is known for its love for sweetness and peanuts. Today, the Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup adds vegetables in the bowl.

These are the different versions of the soup.

  • Tom yam kai is the chicken version of the soup.
  • Tom yam po taek or tom yam thale is a variant of the soup with mixed seafood, like prawns, squid, clams, and pieces of fish.
  • Tom yam kung maphrao on nam khon, a version of prawn Tom Yum with the meat of a young coconut and a dash of (coconut) milk.

Conclusion

Every day, every cuisine adds something more to its traditional dishes. Thai food, though greatly influenced by Chinese cuisine, has popularised. It is undeniable that the Thai Spicy Shrimp Soup has gained its name throughout Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

For more Thai food recipes, click here.

Featured Image: Photo 1 / https://pexels.com/photo/shrimp-soup-in-white-ceramic-bowl-with-chili-on-brown-wooden-surface-1437590/ , @ninainthekitchen / Instagram