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Thailand-Inspired Tom Yum Soup

The Thai-inspired soup is flavored with shrimp heads, galangal, fresh cilantro, mushrooms, fish sauce, and lime juice. In this Tom Yum Kung version, individual bowls are garnished with cooked shrimp.
This is one of those soups that you can taste in a Thai restaurant in the West or in Thailand and assume that it is very difficult to make. Once you have acquired the necessary ingredients, the dish actually comes together pretty easily at home!
The recipe below makes about 1 gallon of soup.

Ingredients

  • 20 large shrimp peeled and de-veined
  • Heads and peels from 20 large shrimp
  • 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup red curry paste
  • 2 Thai bird’s eye chiles finely sliced
  • 1 gallon of chicken stock
  • 2 stalks of lemongrass bruised with the back of a knife
  • 1.5 oz fresh galangal cut into thin slices
  • 15 fresh Kaffir lime leaves
  • 5 plum tomatoes cut into small chunks
  • 1 can straw mushrooms drained and cut in half
  • 3 Tbsp white granulated sugar
  • ½ cup fish sauce
  • ½ cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
  • ¾ cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems finely sliced
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt

Instructions

  • Remove heads and peels from shrimp and set shrimp aside separately from the heads and the peels.
  • De-vein the shrimp and set aside.
  • Heat oil on high heat and add the red curry paste, stirring and cooking for 1 minute.
  • Add the shrimp peels and heads, chicken stock, lemon grass, and galangal and kaffir lime leaves.
  • Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Strain liquid into another large soup pot, squeezing out the liquid from the fish heads into the broth and then discarding all of the aromatics.
  • Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, and white granulated sugar to the strained shrimp stock and bring to a simmer.
  • Poach shrimp in the broth in batches in a strainer for roughly 15 seconds each.
  • Remove shrimp and set aside for later.
  • Mix in the fish sauce, lime juice, and cilantro.
  • Add more kosher salt if desired.
  • Adjust the level of fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar if desired.
  • Serve soup hot in individual bowls, garnished with a few shrimp per bowl and some fresh cilantro.

Notes

You can adjust the quantities of lime, fish sauce, and sugar to achieve a balance that is the perfect balance of acidity, saltiness, and sweetness according to your personal preference.