Cooking in

British Columbia

Thai · Central Thailand

Tom Yum Kung — Classic Prawn Hot-Sour Soup / ต้มยำกุ้ง

Tom yum kung is the most internationally recognised Thai soup and consequently the most frequently mis-executed. The broth is hot-sour-aromatic, not creamy — 'tom yum nam khon' (creamy, with evaporated milk or coconut milk) is a variation, not the original. The base is a clear broth built by simmering galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and sometimes crushed chilli in pork or chicken stock until fragrant, then seasoning aggressively with fish sauce and fresh lime juice added off heat. The prawns (or mushrooms, tofu, or mixed seafood) go in at the last moment. The critical rule: lime juice is added after the pot is off the heat — boiled lime juice becomes bitter and loses its fragrance.

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ServesFour portions

Total30 minutes

Sourced2of 4 in BC

Cook

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The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

1 litre

pork or chicken stock

Your own market

40 g

galangal

peeled, sliced into coins

Bosa Foods · Vancouver → · also Angel Seafoods, Halfmoon General

2 stalks

lemongrass

bruised and cut into 4 cm lengths

Origin · ThailandBosa Foods · Vancouver → · also Angel Seafoods, Halfmoon General

kaffir lime leaves

torn

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

bird's eye chillies

bruised, not sliced

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

400 g

raw prawns

shell-on or peeled, deveined

Your own market

3 tbsp

fish sauce

Your own market

3 tbsp

fresh lime juice

squeezed to order, not bottled

Your own market

150 g

mushrooms

optional; straw or oyster, halved

Your own market

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

The Method

Bring the stock to a gentle simmer in a medium saucepan, then add the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and bruised bird's eye chillies, maintaining that gentle simmer for 5–8 minutes so the aromatics yield their oils into the broth rather than sitting inert on the surface. The broth is ready when the galangal's piney note and the lemongrass perfume are clearly present in the steam.

Add the mushrooms and simmer a further 2 minutes until just tender. Add the fish sauce and stir to combine, then taste the broth — it should be saline and assertively seasoned at this stage, because the lime juice and prawns added later will temper the salt and you cannot recover a timid broth once they are in.

From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →

Reduce the heat so the broth simmers, not boils, before adding the prawns, because a rolling boil will seize them hard and fast, robbing them of the supple texture the dish depends on. The prawns require 2–3 minutes at a gentle simmer and are done when they have curled gently and turned uniformly pink — a tight spiral means they are overcooked and the texture is lost.

Remove the pan from the heat entirely before adding the fresh lime juice, so the citrus stays bright and sharp rather than cooking down to something flat and bitter. Stir once, taste, and adjust fish sauce or lime juice in balance.

Ladle immediately into warmed bowls, distributing the aromatics and prawns evenly. The finished broth should be clear, not opaque, with a sharp citrus fragrance rising from the bowl.

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Wild river prawns or live shell-on prawns; stock made from prawn shells and heads; fresh-pressed lime juice used within minutes of squeezing; young galangal with tight, pale flesh.

Estate — Fresh market prawns, shell-on; a well-made pork or chicken stock reduced to good body; kaffir lime leaves taken fresh from the stem.

Market — Fresh-frozen prawns fully thawed and dried; reliable commercial stock or good bouillon; lime juice squeezed to order from standard supermarket limes.

House — Pre-peeled frozen prawns; carton stock; dried kaffir lime leaves reconstituted in warm water. The soup remains serviceable but the aromatic top notes are substantially diminished.

Sensory Tests

◇Smell. After 5–8 minutes of simmering, the aromatic broth gives off a clear piney-citrus perfume from the galangal and lemongrass — the infusion is complete.

◇Sight. Prawns are done when they have curled gently into a loose C-shape and are uniformly pink; a tight O-shape indicates overcooking.

◇Smell. Fresh lime juice added off heat produces an immediate volatile citrus bloom above the bowl; its absence or flatness indicates the juice was added too early or was bottled.

◇Where it lives or dies. Lime juice must be added only after the pot is removed from the heat — boiled lime juice becomes bitter and flat, destroying the dish's defining aromatic freshness.

Pillar V

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