tom yam.. yum

I recently ran out of gas in my kitchen.  I had a new tank brought to the house, 330 baht (11 USD). I'd say it will serve me well. Hoping I can scheme up some tasty dishes. This past weekend and week has been all about tom yam.  Tom Yam is one of the most popular soups in Thailand.  The soups is known throughout neighboring countries as well, each with a bit of a different flair.  The name, tom yam, means spicy, sour (tangy) soup.  Tom meaning soup and yam meaning (sour spicy salad).  The flavor is like nothing I have every tasted.  

Is it strange that I enjoy making soup in 85-90 degree weather?  I especially this one, as it has quenching flavors.  In my first 4 months of my time in SE Asia (in 90+ degree weather), I never understood how people enjoyed soup. Now I know. It's almost like the flavor and heat tone down the surroundings  I have started to appreciate it more lately after some of my Thai friends ordered soup to share with me. I couldn't turn it down, as I am so glad I did not.

 

Now just to give you a heads up, I made two different soups. One tofu tom yam and one chicken tom yam.

Ready to see what tom yam is all about?

RECIPE

serves 4-5

6-8 ounces shrimp (traditional), chicken, or tofu

1 small chunk, galangal

2-3 pieces lemongrass, bruise/grind with a knife (for flavor) I actually peeled and diced mine.

1 medium onion, sliced

1-2 small shallots, minced

2-3 T garlic, minced

5-6 small tomatoes, diced

8-10 kaffir lime leaves, torn

birds eye chilies, sliced diagonally (add to your liking)

3-4 fresh limes (mini), juiced

10 straw mushrooms, sliced (optional)

mini handful of corainder leaves, sliced

salt, pinch (or to taste)

sugar, pinch (or to taste)

1.5-2 L water, broth 

Prepped ingredients for tom yam with tofu

Tom Yam with Tofu: I like to prep my vegetables, herbs, and spices ahead of time. Tom Yam doesn't take long to make, be ready just adds to the ease of the process.  The lemongrass doesn't have to be added in sliced form, you may simply slice each piece into strips (tie them together) and let them emit flavors into the soup broth (discard before serving)

Shown above: tomatoes, onions, limes, chicken boullion, shallot, chilies, kaffir lime leaves, tofu, lemongrass, minced garlic (not completely vegetarian, as I did use a chicken bouillon).

Procedure

Start by adding heating the stock (either bouillon, or meat stock). Add onions, galangal, lemongrass, shallots. Let cook for 2 minutes, allow it to simmer.  You will notice fragrance

 

Add your mear/protein, cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.  Add tomatoes, chilies, (tamarind is an option as well). Allow the tomatoes to cook down. Add the lime juice. The soup will start to develop a faint red/pink color.  Add mushrooms if desired.

Once the tomatoes have cooked down and the protein is full cooked, add a pinch of sugar/tamarind and some torn lime leaves/coriander leaves to the soup*.  Remove from the heat.  

*Taste the soup to see if it is to your liking. If you have never had tom yam, expect the soup to have a spicy, tangy taste with a hint of sweet/salty.

 Tom Yam with Tofu. Near the end, after the leaves have been added.

Near the end, after the kaffir lime leaves have been added.

 Ready?

Final product. Tom yam tow-oo (tom yam with tofu). I decided the soup was so great. In addition, I concluded that I needed to make the soup again in the next couple of days, with chicken. If I were to make another vegetarian version of this soup I would use a less firm tofu (what I had on hand, never cooked with the firm yellow bean curd before). Live and learn.  However, the flavor was quite amazing.

Tom yam revisited, with chicken.  I definitely mastered the challenge, as far as what I was hoping for. The final product, tom yam gai (tom yam with chicken), delicious! This may be one of my new favorite soups. It's rather light but with brilliant flavors I cannot explain.  This soups would go great with other side dishes or entrees.

My tom yam experience was fun. I enjoyed working with some new flavors. Let me tell you, your house will smell wonderful after letting this Thai soup simmer in your kitchen.  In the future, I plan to add tamarind to the mix. In which case I would discard the option of sugar.  Tamarind has a tangy sweet flavor that would go nicely in the soup, a traditional flavor option.  As far as the ingredients, I really didn't measure anything, I went by taste. My recipe above is educated guessing at best.  

Taste is avenue to success in my opinion.  I have previously tried several tom yams, each somewhat variable in tangy-ness and spiciness.  Yet another recipe to take home with me.  Hope I can share it with you sometime. I am also thinking I will play off of the tom yam flavors and add other vegetables to the mix. Could be fun.