morsels45

morsels45 said

Tom yum

Sour, hot, and it clears your head in two spoonfuls.

Tom yum
Photo: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. A photo of the dish, not of these exact recipes.

That was somebody else’s answer. Yours takes about twenty seconds: a handful of either-ors, then one dish.

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How to make tom yum

2 genuinely different takes — a classic, and a faster or lighter route. The same ones the app hands you once you have decided.

Clear, the way it comes

30 minutes · serves 4 · Medium

What you need

  • 400g raw prawns, shells kept
  • 1.2L water
  • 3 lemongrass stalks, bashed
  • 6 lime leaves
  • Thumb of galangal, sliced
  • 200g mushrooms
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 4 limes
  • 6 bird’s eye chillies, bruised
  • Coriander

What you do

  1. 1Fry the prawn shells in a dry pot for 2 minutes until they turn orange and smell sweet, then add the water. This is the stock and it takes ten minutes.
  2. 2Strain, then return to the pot with the lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal and chillies. Simmer 10 minutes.
  3. 3Mushrooms in for 3 minutes, then the prawns for 2.
  4. 4Off the heat: fish sauce and lime juice, tasted and adjusted. It should be sour first, salty second, hot third.
  5. 5Never boil it after the lime goes in.

Creamy, with paste

20 minutes · serves 2 · Very easy

What you need

  • 300g prawns
  • 2 tbsp tom yum paste
  • 800ml stock
  • 150g mushrooms
  • 100ml evaporated or coconut milk
  • Lime
  • Fish sauce

What you do

  1. 1Fry the paste 1 minute, add the stock, simmer 8 minutes.
  2. 2Mushrooms, then prawns for 2 minutes.
  3. 3Milk, lime and fish sauce off the heat.