Tom Yam Goong – A spicy prawn and lemongrass soup

March 21, 2017October 20, 2025 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

This delicious soup is the perfect addition for your Thai Banquet – it is spicy, fresh and tangy, how tangy depends on how you like it – how much lime juice you use. How spicy depends on how spicy you like it and how much chilli you add…

We often enjoy this soup for a light meal on a hot summers’ night – it is absolutely perfect, light, fresh and flavoursome.

Tom Yam Goong (Spicy Prawn & Lemongrass Soup)

"Tom Yam Goong should be spicy, fresh and tangy - how tangy depends on how you like it - how much lime juice you use..."

Category: Soup, Starter

Style: Asian, Gluten Free, Thai

Keyword: Lemongrass, Prawn Soup, Prawns

Quantity: 2

Author: sbaskitchen

Ingredients

500 ml chicken stock
20 g shallots, peeled & sliced
20 g galangal, chopped
20 g lemongrass, bashed
20 g small hot chilies, whole
4 kaffir lime leaves
Fresh lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm sugar
6 green prawns - tiger if you can get them
20 g straw mushrooms, cut into halves
1 spring onion - green part only, finely shredded on the angle
6 snow peas,cut into julienne cut into julienne
To garnish
2 Kaffir lime leaves, cut into fine chifonade
Fresh coriander leaves

Instructions

Peel & devein the prawns. Set aside
Gently sautee the galangal, shallots, lemongrass & chillies to release their flavours.
Cover with chicken stock and add the kaffir lime leaves. Simmer gently for 2 minutes.
Season with the fish sauce and palm sugar and adjust the flavour with the lime juice.
Strain the broth, discard the solids and return the broth to a clean saucepan.
Bring the broth to a simmer, add the prawns and straw mushrooms and simmer gently for two minutes.
Divide the snow peas and spring onion between two serving bowls, top with the the prawns and straw mushrooms and pour over the broth.
Divide evenly between two serving bowls
Sprinkle the kaffir chiffonade and coriander leaves to garnish.
Serve hot.

Notes

You may substitute diced chicken for the prawns. The dish is then called Tom Yam Gai. I
believe that fresh fish would also work wonderfully .
Adapted from’Thai Country Cooking from Laguna Beach Resort’ (2002) p57.
I like to add some fresh seasonal vegetables when I can.

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Until next time…

Happy Cooking & Bon appétit!

Links

A Thai Banquet – Sweet, Hot, Sour, Salty Bitter – Delicious!
Tom Yam Goong (Spicy Prawn & Lemongrass Soup)

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this page – just pop a note in the comments box below.
With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.

Ravioli Ignudi (Naked Ravioli)

February 23, 2017 / sbaskitchen / 2 Comments

These delicate little pillows of ricotta and Swiss chard / silverbeet were given their wonderful name because they are not blanketed in fresh pasta like the ravioli that we all know and love. This dish is fast becoming a favourite in our home – it is delicious, surprisingly simple to make, very economical and has very few ingredients. I love making it because it means I get to make use of produce from our vegie patch. It is so rewarding to take your basket and fill it with the ingredients needed to prepare your next meal…

Ravioli Ignudi (Naked Ravioli)

Servings: 4
Print

Ingredients

300 g ricotta
400 g Swiss chard, leaves only
1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup gluten free flour blend
90 g unsalted butter
16 whole fresh sage leaves
Salt

Directions

Bring a large saucepan filled with salted water to a boil.
Add the Swiss chard and boil until tender, about 5 minutes.
Drain thoroughly, wrap in a cloth and squeeze until the chard is very dry. Chop very finely.
Gradually combine the Swiss chard with the ricotta. Add about two-thirds of the Parmesan, the nutmeg and egg yolks. Mix thoroughly.
Scoop up a small quantity of the mixture with a spoon and, with well-floured hands, form it into a little oval pillow about 3cm long.
Dredge the little pillow lightly with some of the flour and set aside.
Continue forming little oval pillows with the remaining ricotta mixture.
Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil.
Meanwhile, melt the butter with the sage leaves in a frying pan and keep warm.
When the water reaches a rapid boil, add the ravioli, a few at a time, and cook until they rise to the surface (as you would for gnocchi).
Remove the ravioli with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place them into the warm melted butter and sage.
Continue cooking the remaining ravioli in the same manner.
Arrange the ravioli in a serving dish and drizzle with the melted butter and sage. Dust with the remaining Parmesan and grind over a little black pepper.

Notes:

I like to bake some tomatoes and add them together with a few shards of crispy prosciutto to the plate when serving, just for colour, flavour and texture.
We also like to crisp some of the Ignudi up a little in the butter.
While I have used my Gluten Free Flour Blend, this recipe was originally made with normal wheat plain flour, so either can be used, depending on dietary requirements.
Adapted from a lovely old book, Tuscany – The Beautiful Cookbook (1996) L De Medici, p78.
I make my own soft ricotta style cheese.

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Generous Gifts

January 24, 2017 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

I love coming up with new recipes to highlight new produce, and this weekend we received a wonderful gift of home-cured meats from a friend. Mike, Chris and Mon, our son’s future in-laws, visited from Melbourne and came bearing beautiful gifts, including beautiful flowers, some wonderful wine and Mike’s cured meats.

Flowers from Mike & Chris 20 Jan 17 - Image 2

The flowers went straight onto the table, they were so pretty, and the meats were put to good use as the foundation of a couple of amazing anitpasto platters, one as a starter to our evening meal, the other for a light lunch on the terrace.

Meal times were wonderful chatty affairs and we spent a lot of time getting to know each other better, talking about family, funny experiences, food and gardening. Previously we only seemed to catch up at family gatherings where there was little or no time to talk and get to know each other.

On Saturday while they went visiting, I took the opportunity to race into the local farmer’s market -I wanted a little something to send home with them, and the vegie patch is really not quite up to speed at the moment. I also needed to top up our supplies of Wuk Wuk steak.

When they returned they came bearing another gift, a wonderful heritage apple tree for our garden, a Ribston Pippin – another lovely thoughtful gift. I have already worked out where it is going to live and how it will be espaliered… We were so pleased to be able to give them a bag of fresh local produce – potatoes, beetroot, zucchini, corn, eggs, etc. as well as rhubarb from our garden and some Jalapeno Chili and Sprouting Broccoli seedlings. But after they left I was kicking myself, as I also wanted to give them some preserves from the store! Oh well, next time, they will be returning in March to help with some repairs to our home, and there are some cooking projects on the agenda as well.

Now… I wanted something different to cook to highlight one of Mike’s cured meats. Inspired by a recipe Endives Rôties au Roquefort, Chips de Jambon from Saveurs no 234 p59, I created Roasted Belgian Endive (Witlof) with Shadows of Blue Cheese and Mike’s Prosciutto, a recipe highlighting a luscious, creamy local blue cheese, Mike’s amazing prosciutto, and my fig vinegar. It’s a wonderful entrée with the bitterness of the endive, the crispness of the prosciutto, the creamyness of the cheese, the salt from both, and the sweetness of the fig vinegar all complementing each other.