As it was a Bank Holiday today and we had plenty of time, we decided to cook some Thai dishes. We’ve done the lemongrass beef several times before and it’s one of our favourites. To go with it we decided on Tom Yum Goong.
Both dishes are quick to prepare which makes a refreshing change when it comes to Thai dishes and neither ate into our full day of relaxing. Despite not looking all the attractive, the soup was good: hot and slightly sour. The lemongrass beef, as always, was brilliant.
3 cups mild chicken stock
2 stalks lemongrass, smashed flat and cut into 1.5 inch pieces
3 wild lime leaves
3 birds eye chillies, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 pound oyster mushrooms, chopped
1/2 pound prawns
3 tbs fresh lime juice
2 tbs fish sauce
Place the stock in a pot with the lemongrass and bring to the boil.
Add the lime leaves and chillies and bring back to the boil, cook for five minutes.
Add the mushrooms and prawns and cook for 1 minute or until the prawns have turned pink.
Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice and fish sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
All those Thai dishes you are making are so inspiring. I love Thai, but apart from Thai Green Curry, I never really cook them myself.
I think Thai recipes can sometimes be a bit daunting, aside from the lengthy (and sometimes difficult to acquire ingredients) they often need a fair amount of preperation. Both these dishes were very simple though so I’d recommend them as a good starting point if you want to experiment.
Tom Yum Goong is my all-time favourite and I can have it anytime and everytime! Can you share your recipe with me please? Thanks!
I love tom yum goong, especially if I’m feeling under the weather. Most of it’s ingredients reside in my freezer, so I can have it anytime.
Lizzie, I love tom yum goong too, but haven’t had it for ages, so it was really good to have it last night. Good idea to have everything you need ready to have it at any time.
Tom yum goong was the first Thai food I ever had. I wasn’t used to chilli at the time and it was my first course, which meant it was mostly a “what am I supposed to taste other than pain?” experience and I couldn’t taste anything for the rest of the evening!
Pity the picture didn’t turn out a bit better though.
Recipe added to main post Mrs Ergul – hope you enjoy it.
Lizzie – how does this compare to your recipe?
Hi Stephen
Pretty similar, my Thai book tells me to simmer the lemongrass with a few slices of galangal (I keep it in my freezer ready sliced) in the stock for 20 mins with any prawn heads and shells you have, then strain and the rest goes in for a 4 min simmer, finished with a blob of nam prik pao for those proper chilli heads!
Hmm this recipe didn’t specify nam prik pao, but we were planning to make it (never did though) from another recipe a couple of months ago which did specify it. I got as far as buying loads of dried chillis to make the nam prik pao and never using them. 🙂
Freezing galangal pre-sliced sounds like a good idea!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I will be trying it soon!
I love tom yum – but for some reason have never made it from scratch (there’s always a jar of paste in the fridge) I hadn’t realised how simple it was before – thanks!