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Tom Yum Gai Soup (Hot and Sour Chicken Soup)
Serves 4-6 Prep 10 min Cook 20 min Total 30 min Type Meal Origin Thai

Tom Yum Gai Soup (Hot and Sour Chicken Soup)

Thailand's tom yum gai: chicken in a hot-and-sour broth of lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, fish sauce and chilli.

Serves 4 Prep 10 minutes Cook 20 minutes Units Rate

Overview

When you go out for Thai food this is sure to be on the menu. I love the spiciness of this soup, you get a good hit of spice but it doesn’t linger. Some chefs add sugar to it but, for me, this is a spicy, savoury and tart soup with only a hint of natural sweetness from the fried shallots and tomatoes. Do, of course, taste the soup and adjust the flavour to your liking, adding sugar if you want. It makes a delicious starter but you could bulk it up by adding other ingredients such as noodles to make it a light main. The word ‘gai’ means chicken, so this is a chicken tom yum soup. You could substitute prawn (shrimp) stock and prawns to make a delicious tom yum goong, or go vegetarian and use water and tofu.

Ingredients

Fat

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil

Aromatics

  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, smashed and cut into about 5 pieces
  • 8 lime leaves, stalks removed and leaves thinly sliced
  • 2 ½cm (1in) piece of galangal, thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Protein

  • 250g (9oz) chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

Vegetables

  • 8 mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 tomatoes, quartered
  • 3 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped
  • Handful of chopped (or sliced vegetables), such as cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots (optional)

Seasonings

  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tbsp chilli jam (nam prik pao)
  • 1 tbsp roasted Thai chilli oil with some of the goop at the bottom
  • 3-4 tbsp Thai fish sauce*
  • 3 green bird’s eye chillies, smashed and cut lengthwise
  • 1 small handful of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp palm sugar (or white sugar, optional and to taste)

Method

Stage 1 - Prepare aromatics

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat until shimmering hot.
  2. Add the shallots and fry for about a minute.
  3. Add the stock or water, lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal and garlic and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce the heat and simmer this aromatic liquid for about 10 minutes.

Stage 2 - Cook chicken

  1. Stir in the chicken and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through (about 5 minutes).
  2. Add the tamarind paste and stir well.

Stage 3 - Add seasonings and vegetables

  1. Stir in the mushrooms, chilli jam, chilli oil, fish sauce, green bird’s eye chillies and coriander (cilantro).
  2. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired; add sugar if wanted.
  3. Add the quartered tomatoes and let them cook through in the hot stock.
  4. Add the spring onions (scallions) and any other vegetables.

Stage 4 - Serve

  1. Ladle the soup into bowls and enjoy.

Notes

  • Many Thai fish sauces contain gluten but there are gluten-free brands available.

Serving

  • Serve hot as a starter or light main.

Storage

  • Refrigerate leftovers in airtight container for up to 2 days.
  • Reheat gently; flavors intensify.

Recipes mentioned here

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