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Tom yum kung
ต้มยำกุ้ง (tom yam kung)
Thailand's hot and sour prawn soup: river prawns in a stock of their own heads and shells, scented with lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime leaves, seasoned with fish sauce, sugar, roasted chilli paste and lime juice added off the heat. Chef Nooror Somany Steppe's clear version for the MICHELIN Guide. UNESCO inscribed tom yum kung in 2024.
- Servings
- 2
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cooking
- 25 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- Moderate
Equipment
- Two saucepans; sieve
- Pestle and mortar or the flat of a knife, to bruise the herbs
Ingredients
Prawn stock
Soup
Method
Make the stock: simmer the prawn heads and shells with the lemongrass, coriander roots and shallots in the water over a medium heat. Add a little salt, turn off the heat and strain.
Timer · 15 min15:00Bring the strained stock to the boil over a medium heat with the crushed lemongrass and coriander roots.
Add the mushrooms, prawns, galangal and lime leaves. Season with the fish sauce, sugar and chilli paste and boil a little longer, just until the prawns are cooked.
Why The chef adds the lime leaves after the prawns to keep their scent.
Timer · 3 min3:00Turn off the heat. Stir in the crushed chillies and the lime juice, remove the coriander roots, taste, and serve garnished with coriander leaves.
Why Lime juice boiled loses its fresh aroma and can turn bitter; added off the heat it keeps the soup fragrant.
Substitutions
- River prawns → Large sea prawns with heads; the MICHELIN article notes these lack the fat that made the old broth creamy.
- Straw mushrooms → Oyster or button mushrooms.
- Galangal → There is no good substitute; ginger tastes different.
Common mistakes
- Boiling the lime juice.
- Overcooking the prawns: they need only a minute or two.
Storage & reheating
Best eaten at once. Leftover broth (without prawns) keeps a day in the fridge.
Safety
Contains crustaceans and fish (fish sauce). Roasted chilli paste often contains dried shrimp and soy: check the label. The herbs (lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves) are usually left in the bowl and not eaten whole, although the chef pounds them finely enough to eat.
Allergens
Crustaceans · Fish
Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.
Dietary
gluten-free · dairy-free
From riverside communities to UNESCO
The UNESCO entry for tomyum kung describes prawns boiled with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and shallots and seasoned with local condiments. It places the dish among the Buddhist riverside communities of Thailand's Central Plains, who avoided killing large animals and ate the abundant freshwater prawns; the knowledge is passed on orally in families. It was inscribed on 3 December 2024, at the Committee's session in Asunción.
The MICHELIN Guide notes that the exact origin is unclear: the earliest evidence it cites is a fish-based tom yam in the 1908 cookbook Mae Krua Hua Pa, unlike today's soup.
Clear or creamy
Chef Nooror Somany Steppe remembers a clear broth from her childhood, without milk or coconut. River prawns have fat in their heads that once made the broth slightly creamy. As they grew expensive, cooks used smaller sea prawns and added milk or coconut cream for the milky tom yam kung nam khon. She counts the soup among the hardest Thai dishes to make, because sour, salty, sweet and hot must balance.
How it connects
Place
- origin Central Plains of Thailand In preparation