thebigfatnoodle

also called Tom Khaa (I think)

Traditional tom yum goong is actually made with evaporated milk (or no milk at all) but I prefer making it with coconut milk. I’ve made a fairly mild version but you can always ratchet up the heat by replacing normal chillies with bird’s eye chillies instead.

Ingredients (serves 2-3 people)

100 grams glass noodles, cooked, drained and separated into 2 bowls

6 cups fish stock (I just make mine with stock cubes)

3 stalks lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed and then minced or pounded

1 extra lemon grass, lightly bruised but left as a stick

4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh ideally but dried works fine)

2 large cloves of garlic, pounded with the lemongrass

2 red chillies, finely sliced (i added an extra hot box chilli which we’ve beeen growing this year)

1/2 chilli flakes (optional)

2 small chicken breast, skin on

2 tablespoons fish sauce

50 grams enoki mushrooms

10 medium raw shrimp, shells removed

200 ml coconut milk (that’s roughly half a can

2-3 limes, freshly squeezed

I large carrot, peeled and sliced

Fresh coriander or parsley to garnish

Preparation:

To prepare the chicken, I slice the uppermost part of the chicken nearest the skin so that I end up with what looks like a thin sheet of chicken with the whole skin intact. Put this to one side and repeat the process with the other chicken breast. Slice the remaining chicken into strips and marinate with 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce.

In a large pot, drizzle a tiny bit of oil and a pinch of salt. When the oil’s hot, take your two sheets of chicken and place them skin side down in the pan. You basically want to fry the chicken skin until it goes light brown and crispy (takes 3-5 minutes). Flip the chicken over and fry the meat side until it’s cooked through. Lift the kitchen out and drain the meat side on some kitchen napkins to get rid of any access oil.

In the same pan, add the remaining chicken pieces and fry them until they’re cooked and starting to brown (roughly 3-5 minutes).

Add the pounded garlic and lemon grass and fry for another minute.

Pour the stock over the chicken and add carrots, lime leaves, extra lemongrass stalk and the chopped chillies and chilli flakes.

Add your remaining fish sauce and allow the soup to simmer on a medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add your coconut milk and lime juice and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes.

Add your enoki mushrooms and your prawns and cook for another 3 minutes.

Taste your soup and either add more lime juice if you prefer a tangier taste. If it’s too spicy for you, add more coconut milk or a 1/2 teaspoon if sugar.

Before you ladle your soup over your noodles, slice the fried chicken you’d set aside and place them on top of your glass noodles. Pour the soup over the chicken and noodles, garnish with fresh coriander or parsley and if you like, top with some fried shallots or some more red chillies.