Thai Seafood Soup (Tom Yum Talay)
Make this tasty spicy and sour Thai Seafood Soup (Tom Yum Talay) at home. Just add in prawns and your favourite selection of seafood
Ingredients
SEAFOOD
- 600 gm raw prawns (with head and shells)
- 1 raw blue swimmer crab (cleaned and cut into sections)
- 8 Mussels (with shell)
- 150 gm firm white fish (sliced into bite-sized pieces)
- 100 gm squid tube (scored and sliced into bite-sized pieces)
FOR THE BROTH
- 6 cloves garlic (bruised)
- 4 cm galangal (1.6in sliced roughly) (NOTE 1)
- 4 stalks lemongrass (cut in half and bruised) (NOTE 2)
- 12 kaffir lime leaves (roughly torn) (NOTE 3)
- 3 small red chillies (sliced thinly, more or less to taste)
- 3 cups salt-reduced chicken stock (low sodium) (NOTE 4)
- 6 cups water
- 2 ripe tomatoes (cut into wedges)
- 1 small brown onion (cut into wedges)
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ cup fish sauce (NOTE 5)
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- coriander (cilantro, to serve and garnish)
- salt (season to taste)
Instructions
- Peel the prawns, leaving the tail intact, but DON'T THROW AWAY THE HEAD AND SHELLS. Slice a shallow slit along the back of the prawn and remove its intestinal tract (black line). Optional - for presentation leave a few prawns unpeeled to place on top of the soup before serving.
- In a large saucepan, place in the prawn heads and shells (not the peeled prawns), garlic, onion, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and chillies. Pour in the chicken stock and water and place over medium heat until the soup boils.
- Once the soup boils, reduce the heat to low and place a lid over the saucepan. Cook for 30 minutes covered for the soup flavour to develop. Using a large heatproof strainer, strain the soup into another large saucepan. Discard the shells, spices and any solids.
- Place the tomatoes, sugar and fish sauce into the strained soup and cook over medium-high heat. Once the soup boils, add in the crab, peeled and any unpeeled prawns, cook for a minute then add the mussels, fish and squid. Let the soup cook for another minute, then reduce the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the lime juice. Have a taste and adjust to your liking, if needed, by adding more sugar, salt or lime juice. Give it a good stir and serve with coriander over the top.
Notes
The only seafood that is a must here is the raw prawns, as its shells are used to flavour the broth. That means you may use any variety of seafood you like. I used firm white fish (snapper fillet), squid tube, blue swimmer crab and mussels.
(NOTE 1) Galangal root looks similar to ginger, but it's firmer and harder to cut through. It has a citrus and woody flavour, whereas ginger tastes peppery. They're not really interchangeable, but if you can't find galangal, then swap with ginger, as this is the closest you can get. You need a little less ginger than galangal because it's more potent.
(NOTE 2) Lemongrass - Cut 2cm off from the base of the lemongrass and keep 10-15cm of the stalk and cut off the remaining. Peel off 2 to 3 layers off, then cut the lemongrass in half. Smash the lemongrass a few times using a heavy object like a rolling pin. This will help the lemongrass release its flavours whilst cooking.
(NOTE 3) Kaffir lime leaves - These fragrant green leaves are pretty and distinct. A single kaffir lime leaf looks like there are two leaves conjoined together at the ends. They usually separate the leaves when sold, so count the leaves as they are (1 conjoined leaf = 2 leaves for this recipe)
(NOTE 4) Chicken stock - I prefer using salt-reduced chicken stock as I have more control over the sodium level. It's always better to be under-seasoned than over-seasoned as it's easier to adjust the dish to our taste.
(NOTE 5) Fish sauce - My favourite brand is Thai 'Squid' fish sauce, but any brand of fish sauce will work. It's sold at supermarkets in the International section or at an Asian grocery store. Fish sauce is pungent with a strong fish smell but adds wonderful flavours to Asian cuisines.
Leftovers - Allow the soup to cool completely at room temperature. Transfer the soup into an airtight container and refrigerate. It'll be good for up to 3 days.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
Nutrition
Serving: 1ServingCalories: 225kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 27gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 180mgSodium: 2190mgPotassium: 716mgFiber: 1gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 772IUVitamin C: 48mgCalcium: 110mgIron: 3mg