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 in 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 also famous 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 has 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.
Tom Yam Soup - Preparing Food and Dishes
What is a dish with such a mysterious oriental name? “Tom Yam” is a creamy shrimp soup. It 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 do not grow in our country and are rarely found on the market. 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 everything you need for the recipe (for a very reasonable price). 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, krakai (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 above plants. Instead of lemongrass, galangal root, lambing and lime leaves, take 150 grams of ginger root and lemon leaves and do the same procedure. Put crushed 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 recipes for soup Tom Yam, use seafood and some varieties of vegetables.
Tom Yam soup recipes:
Recipe 1: Tom Yam Soup
Prepare the classic Tom Yam soup, using all the ingredients that Thais put in the dish. Ideally, you should use king prawns (3-4 shrimps should be used 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 mushrooms 300 grams
- Coconut milk 0.5 liters
- Chili paste, 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
- Cilantro
Preparation Method:
- While the water is boiling in the pot, prepare the ingredients.
- Wash the oyster mushrooms under running water and chop them with a knife. Add to saucepan.
- Peel and finely chop the onion. 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 being cooked, peel the shrimp. Add them to the soup along with fish sauce. Squeeze the 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 should be removed from the heat.
- Put chopped greens in the finished dish. Enjoy your meal!
Recipe 2: Tom Yam Soup in Dubai
If you want to try 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
Preparation Method:
- While water is boiling in the pot with the plants, we will prepare the ingredients.
- Remove the shells from the shrimps, peel off the squids from 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 in boiling water, add chili paste, salt and 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. Also, the Turks 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)
- Shrimps, 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
Preparation Method:
- Put a pot of plants on the fire for the Tom Yam soup, and while the water is boiling, prepare the fish ingredients.
- Remove the shells from the shrimp, clean the bones and skins of the fish, cut into large, square pieces.
- Wash the leek and cut it with a knife. Put shrimp, fish and onion 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 finely washed greens and put them in the pan 2 minutes before being 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 pieces of medium size
- Onion 1 piece
- Carrots 1 piece
- Coconut milk 0.4 liters
- Lime 1 piece
- Parsley, basil
- Soy sauce, ground pepper
- Sunflower oil 1 tablespoon
Preparation Method:
- Put a pot with ingredients for Tom Yam soup on the fire, and while the water is boiling, we will prepare the remaining components.
- Peel the shrimp.
- Peel the onions, cut with a knife. Wash carrots and grate. Cut tomatoes into small slices. Preheat pan, brush with oil. Put onion first, then carrot, and after a couple of minutes, tomatoes. Fry the vegetables for five to six minutes.
- Add shrimp, fry to the pan, 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 pieces of medium size
- Bulb onion 1 large size
- Champignon mushrooms 300 grams
- Cream (15% fat) 0.5 liters
- Chili paste 2 tablespoons
- Lime 1 piece
- Parsley
- Salt
Preparation Method:
- Put the soup pot on the fire.
- Wash the champignons thoroughly and cut into cubes with a knife. Add to saucepan.
- Peel the onion and chop finely. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
- Clean the shrimp 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 the saucepan, stir with a spoon and let the soup boil.
- Chop the parsley finely 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 close to using the Tom Yam soup with the Thais, then with the first dish, boil 200 grams of rice in lightly salted water.
- For Tom Yam soup, do not use forest mushrooms, they are too fragrant and can destroy the smell of delicate fish aroma. 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 a lime, you can replace it with the juice of half a lemon.
