Tom Yam Soup - General Cooking Principles
If you have ever been to Thailand, you probably admired not only the magnificent sea and endless clean beaches, but also the culinary delights of Thais. A distinctive feature of their cuisine is the extensive use of seafood (they are found in almost all dishes of Thailand), as well as the fairly spicy taste of the prepared food. Perhaps it is these properties of the dishes that make Thai girls so slim and beautiful, and men - incredibly prolific.
Meanwhile, Tom Yam soup is known outside of Thailand. Any restaurant in the world that serves oriental cuisine will treat you to this soup. Only here a small embarrassment can happen: Tom Yam soup in Thailand can be very different from Tom Yam soup in Dubai or Istanbul. What is the matter? The reason is that this dish has long become world famous, and each nation brought something different to the recipe. We will learn how to cook Tom Yam according to the classical Thai recipe, and according to the recipes adapted to European cuisine.
Soup Tom Yam - preparing food and dishes
What is a dish with such a mysterious oriental name? Tom Yam is a creamy shrimp soup. He is special in that instead of cream Thais use coconut milk, as well as a lot of various additives in the form of herbs that we do not grow and are rarely available. Fortunately, there are two ways out. The first option is that small boxes called “Ingredients for Tom Yam Soup” have already appeared in the hypermarkets of large cities, where you will find (for a very reasonable price) everything you need for a recipe. The second option - each of the unfamiliar ingredients to us can be replaced by the same used in our latitudes.
So, for Tom Yam soup, you need to make the basis of the following ingredients (a classic version of Thai soup): galangal root (a hard plant very, very reminiscent of ginger root) 100 grams, lemograss, lime leaves, krachai (this is a Thai variety of ginger). Type in a pan of water (2 liters) and put there chopped components. When the water boils, add the following ingredients to the pan.
Now consider what we should make the basis for the soup Tom Yam, if you did not find the plants listed above. Instead of lemongrass, galangal root, lambing and lime leaves, take 150 grams of ginger root and lemon leaves and do the same procedure. Put chopped ginger and lemon leaves in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
In addition to these herbal ingredients for classic Thai soup, you will need coconut milk, shrimp, chili paste, fish sauce, mushrooms. For other Tom Yam soup recipes, use seafood and some types of vegetables.
Tom Yam soup recipes:
Recipe 1: Tom Yam Soup
Prepare a classic soup "Tom Yam", using all the ingredients that Thais put in the dish. Ideally, you should use king prawns (3-4 shrimps should be served per serving of soup), but you can buy regular ones, then they should be just more. Fish sauce is sold in stores and put in place of salt, if you have not found this product, you can simply replace it with regular salt or soy sauce.
Ingredients Required:
- Basis for soup (2 liters of water with boiled plants)
- Royal shrimp 400 grams
- Fish sauce 2 tablespoons
- Bulb onion 1 large size
- Oyster mushroom mushrooms 300 grams
- Coconut milk 0.5 liters
- Chili paste, 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
- Cilantro
Cooking method:
- While the water is boiling in the pan, prepare the ingredients.
- Wash oyster mushrooms under running water and chop with a knife. Add to saucepan.
- Peel the onions and finely shred. Add to the boiled water in a saucepan, along with 2 tablespoons of chili paste. Make less heat and cover the pan. Leave for 10 minutes.
- While mushrooms and onions are cooked, peel the shrimp. Add them to the soup along with fish sauce. Squeeze lime juice and let the soup boil.
- Pour the coconut milk into the pan, stir and let the Tom Yam soup boil again, after which it must be removed from the fire.
- In the finished dish, put chopped greens. Enjoy your meal!
Recipe 2: Soup Tom Yam in Dubai
If you want to taste Tom Yam soup in Dubai restaurants, you will be somewhat surprised - this dish will be fishy, but without mushrooms. Try to cook Tom Yam in Dubai and you!
Ingredients Required:
- Basis for soup (2 liters of water with boiled plants)
- Shrimp 300 grams
- Crab meat 200 grams
- Squid 2 carcass
- Coconut milk 0.4 liters
- Chili paste, 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
Cooking method:
- While water is boiling in the pot with the plants, we will prepare the ingredients.
- Remove the shells from the shrimps, peel the squids off the films and cut them into thin strips. Crab meat cut into cubes. Note that for this dish you cannot use crab sticks instead of crab meat.
- Put seafood into boiling water, add chili paste, salt, squeeze lime juice. Let the soup boil for 10 minutes.
- After this period of time, add coconut milk to the pan, stir and bring the soup to a boil, then remove from the heat and serve.
Recipe 3: Tom Yam Soup in Turkish
Turkish soup is different in that it consists of pieces of red fish, giving the dish a unique fishy flavor. Turks also generously add herbs to the dish - parsley, cilantro and dill. Turkish Tom Yam soup is more rare than the classic, but it is no less tasty.
Ingredients Required:
- Basis for soup (2 liters of water with boiled plants)
- Shrimp, ordinary 300 grams
- Red fish of any kind raw or slightly salted 300 grams
- Leek 150 grams
- Coconut milk 0.4 liters
- Chili paste, 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
- Parsley, cilantro, dill
Cooking method:
- Put the pot of plants on the fire for the soup Tom Yam, and while the water is boiling, prepare the fish ingredients.
- Remove the shells from the shrimp, peel the fish off the bones and skins, cut into large, square pieces.
- Wash the leek and cut it with a knife. Put shrimps, fish and onions into boiled water, add chili paste, salt and squeeze lime juice. Leave the soup under the lid closed over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Then pour the coconut milk into the pan, stir and let the soup boil.
- Cut the greens finely washed and put in a saucepan 2 minutes until cooked.
Recipe 4: Tom Yam Mediterranean Soup
The dish prepared according to European standards is not as spicy (since chili sauce is not put into the composition), as well as more vegetable, thanks to the use of carrots, tomatoes and onions.
Ingredients Required:
- Basis for soup (2 liters of water with boiled plants)
- Shrimp 400 grams
- Tomatoes 2 medium sized
- Onion 1 piece
- Carrots 1 piece
- Coconut milk 0.4 liters
- Lime 1 piece
- Parsley, basil
- Soy sauce, ground pepper
- Sunflower oil 1 tablespoon
Cooking method:
- Put a pot with ingredients for Tom Yam soup on the fire, and while the water is boiling, prepare the remaining components.
- Shrimp peel.
- Peel the onion, cut it with a knife. Wash carrots and grate. Cut tomatoes into small slices. Preheat pan, brush with oil. Put onions first, then carrots, and after a couple of minutes, tomatoes. Fry the vegetables for five to six minutes.
- Add shrimp, broil, squeeze lime juice, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and pepper.
- After 15 minutes, pour the coconut milk into the pan, stir and bring the Tom Yam soup to a boil.
- Cut the finely washed greens and place in a saucepan a couple of minutes until cooked.
Recipe 5: Tom Yam Cream Soup
Instead of coconut milk, you can also use regular cream with fat content of 15-20 percent. Replace oyster mushrooms with champignons and enjoy Thai-style soup with elements of Slavic cuisine!
Ingredients Required:
- Basis for soup (2 liters of water with boiled plants)
- Shrimp 400 grams
- Tomatoes 2 medium sized
- Bulb onion 1 large size
- Champignon mushrooms 300 grams
- Cream (15% fat) 0.5 liters
- Chili paste 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
- Parsley
- Salt
Cooking method:
- Put the pot of plants for the soup on the fire.
- Wash the champignons and cut into cubes with a knife. Add to saucepan.
- Peel the onion and chop finely. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
- Shrimp peel off the shell. Add shrimps with vegetables to boiled soup, chili paste, salt and squeeze lime juice. Reduce the heat for 10 minutes and close the lid.
- Pour the cream into a saucepan, stir with a spoon and let the soup boil.
- Finely chop the parsley and add to the pan a minute before cooked.
Tom Yam soup - secrets and tips from the best chefs
- Thais do not eat bread, instead they eat all the dishes with boiled rice. If you want to get closer to the use of Tom Yam soup with the Thais, then boil 200 grams of rice in lightly salted water with the first dish.
- For Tom Yam soup, do not use forest mushrooms, they are too fragrant and can destroy the smell of delicate fish flavor. Go around with mushrooms and mushrooms.
- If you are not cooking classic Tom Yam soup, but experimenting, then add to the dish as much seafood as possible - fish, octopus, mussels, squid.
- Coconut milk can be safely replaced with medium-fat cream.
- If you could not get lime, you can replace it with the juice of half a lemon.
