Tom Yam is a traditional dish in Thailand and Laos (popular also in neighboring countries, that is, in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore). It is a soup with a characteristic sour-sharp taste. Usually soup is prepared with shrimps based on chicken broth, with chicken meat, fish and / or other seafood. The name consists of two words. The word "tom" literally translates from Thai as "cook", "yam" can be translated as "hot salad". That is, in Laos and Thailand, the pits are a common name for hot, hot, acidic soups.
About types of soups
For clarification to the main name of the volume are added words informing about the type of meat or broth used. For example, the volume of yam thale - with seafood, or the volume of yam kai - with chicken, etc. Soup tom yam kung - the most popular version of the recipe - with shrimp. In countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as in a number of national restaurants in different countries, the name of the pits is often used to refer to a variety of hot Thai soups, the content, cooking principles and taste of which may differ drastically from the authentic recipe.
Ingredients for Soup Yam
To prepare soup for pits, we usually use such exotic ingredients for our cuisine as the leaves and juice of kafir lime, the root of the galangal, the leaves of the eryngium odorous, coconut milk (in powder or liquid), banana flowers. But if you are willing to give up a little Thai tradition, we suggest you prepare a slightly simpler and more adapted recipe.
Cooking Thai soup
So, the soup is a pit, a recipe adapted.
Ingredients:
- 24 pieces of large fresh or frozen shrimps (can be replaced by an appropriate number of smaller ones);
- gram 200 fungi (oyster mushrooms);
- 5 tablespoons of fish sauce "Nam Pla";
- juice 2 lime fruit + 5-7 lime leaves;
- 2 tablespoons of paste "Tom Yam";
- 1.5 liters of chicken broth;
- 2 stems of lemon grass;
- spine of galangal (kalgan) or ginger about 3 cm in size;
- half-baked cilantro;
- 3-7 fruits of fresh Thai chili peppers.
Preparation:
How to boil soup that pits? We'll clean the shrimps (fresh or thawed) from shells and heads. Cut out the stiff legs of mushrooms and discard, the rest will be cut quite large. The cleared root of the galangal (or ginger) is cut into thin, short straws. Lemon sorghum is cleaned from dried leaves, cut each stem into 3 parts and lightly beaten with a hammer. We bring the broth to a boil, we place in it chopped mushrooms, galangal, lemon sorghum, chili peppers (whole) and leaves or lime zest. Once again bring to a boil and add the shrimp in the pan. After boiling, reduce the heat and remove the noise. We dilute the pasta with a small amount of broth. Turn off the fire. Add to the pan a diluted paste, lime juice and fish sauce. If possible, extract from a saucepan pieces of lemon sorghum and a root of a galangal. Before serving, we will season each portion with coriander crushed coriander.
About options
As a seasoning for soup pits, a special paste is used (which usually includes tamarind, shrimp paste, onion and garlic, sometimes - hot pepper). Of course, in different regions the set of ingredients can vary more widely. Much depends on the personal taste preferences of the cook - everyone has their own tricks and secrets of cooking soup to the pits. According to the list of ingredients, we understand that in our conditions, most likely, we will not be able to cook a traditional soup with a recipe for an authentic recipe. However, using some products from oriental shops or specialized departments of supermarkets in large cities, you can try to prepare, so to speak, an adapted version.