Thai Prawn Soup with Lemon Grass - Tom Yum Goong

20 prawns (shrimp), medium size
4-5 cups chicken broth/soup stock
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, lightly pounded, cut into 1 inch long segments
4 table spoons fish sauce
1/3 cup sliced fresh galangal
1/2 cup straw mushroom, halved or whole
6-8 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
4 tablespoons lime juice
6 crushed fresh Thai chile peppers (or more to suit your taste)
2 tablespoons "prik pao" roasted chile in oil
Fresh cilantro for garnish

Method

Wash the prawns and shell them without removing the tails. Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves. Bring back to a boil then add mushrooms, fish sauce, prik pao and lime juice. Add prawns and fresh chile peppers. As soon as prawns turn pink (cooked through) serve garnished with cilantro.

Note that a rather simple and effective way to make this dish is with a ready-made tom yum paste. ImportFood.com has two options for you. We recommend you order our Instant Tom Yum Paste, imported from Thailand and a very good quality product. Add two tablespoons Tom Yum Paste to three cups boiling water, add 1.5 teaspoons salt, add mushrooms and prawns, add 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, add 5-7 Thai chile peppers and onions, and serve garnished with cilantro.

An alternative to Tom Yum Paste is our Tom Yum Spice Mix which you can use to make the above soup. Both alternatives also add fragrant, delicious Tom Yum flavor to just about any kind of noodles, and both are quite popular in creating "fusion" type Pan-Asian foods blending Thai and western foods.