Tom Yam is a classic Thai soup and this recipe makes it extremely easy and quick to prepare without compromising on flavours, complexity or indeed heat.
Ingredients:
500ml Chicken Stock (I used Marc Pierre White’s chicken pots, which are perfect for this)
3 Birds Eye Chillies, halved and slightly crushed
5g Dried Lemongrass (used a fresh lemongrass stalk bruised)
3 Whole Kaffir Lime Leaves
5g Sliced Galangal (used Bart galangal in sunflower oil)
6 Large Fresh Prawns whole
100g Mushrooms sliced
4 Tablespoons Lime Juice (I find this is roughly equivalent to 2 juicy limes)
1 1/2 Teaspoons) Fish Sauce
Instructions:
1. Prepare the prawns by removing the heads, legs, and peeling. Leave the tails on. I used Waitrose frozen tiger prawns which came shelled already.
2. Bring the stock to the boil, and add the galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Break the chillies in half and crush them with the handle of a knife (or a pestle) before adding them to the soup.
3. After 2 – 3 minutes, add the prawn and the mushrooms and bring to the boil again.
4. Add the fish sauce and then remove from the heat. Finally add the lime juice to taste. Add more fish sauce or lime juice to taste. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve immediately.