Name: Shrimp and Lemongrass Soup (Tome Yum Goong)
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves; 6 wild lime leaves, torn or cut in quarters (optional); 3 cups water, chicken broth, or shrimp stock; 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice; 2 green onions, very thinly sliced crosswise; 1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh hot green chilies; 2 tablespoons roasted chili paste (nahm prik pao; optional); 1 cup thinly sliced fresh mushrooms; 2 tablespoons fish sauce; ½ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined; 5 slices galanga, fresh, frozen, or dried; 3 stalks fresh lemongrass, trimmed to 3-inch base and cut on the diagonal into 1-inch lengths

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Quick & Easy Thai

By Nancie McDermott

Published 2004

About

Although world-renowned as the fiery queen of Thai soups, tome yum is very much a quick and easy dish. You need the lemongrass, but you can still make a tasty tome yum without the galanga and wild lime leaves. The roasted chili paste fortifies the broth wonderfully, but it is not essential either. You can also make a rustic, northeastern Thai version of tome yum using chunks of catfish or salmon instead of shrimp, adding a generous handful of halved cherry tomatoes and a quintet of tiny Tha