Vegetarian Tom Yum Shrimp Soup (Tom Yum Goong Je Nam Khon)
Vegetarian Thai Recipe for Tom Yum Soup with Roasted Chili Paste
Thailand "lacks a strong indigenous vegetarian tradition" notes Nancie McDermott in Real Vegetarian Thai, and cookbook author Vatcharin concedes, yet there are many modern Thais that practice vegetarianism today and the number is growing. In the last 30 years, vegetarianism in Thailand has become more widespread, because of an increased interest in a sect of Thai Buddhism, which reveres Kwan Yim, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, according to the cookbook Thai Vegetarian Cooking.
Food blog WorldonaPlate.org struggled with "having to cook a vegan (Thai) dish" when "just about every dish has that essential ingredient, fish sauce (nam pla). Truly this is the single most important flavoring for authentic Thai." This makes it especially tricky to recreate the flavor balance of the classic Tom Yum Soup, which is usually finished with a good dose of fish sauce to achieve a satisfying umami flavor.
This recipe for Tom Yum Soup from the recently published cookbook, Thai Vegetarian Cooking, solves that problem by employing a combination of soy sauce and sea salt balanced with Thai roasted chili paste, coconut milk, lime and the essential fresh Thai herbs (galangal, chilies and lemongrass) for Tom Yum. Thus a savory flavor is created without the addition of meat or seafood. Fortified with frozen vegetarian prawns (if available) and straw mushrooms, a full palate of flavors and satisfying textures is achieved without sacrificing the goal of remaining a vegetarian dish.
Ingredients
Preparation:
- In a soup pot, pour in water or stock and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and pickled garlic. When it boils again add straw mushrooms and cook until just done. Season with roasted chili paste, light soy sauce, salt, sugar and lime juice. Stir to combine. The taste should be sour and salty. Add vegetarian prawns and cook for further 3 minutes until they are done. Add coconut milk and cook until boiling. Add hot chilies and coriander, turn off the heat.
- Dip out into a serving bowl garnish with kaffir lime leaves, coriander eaves. lemongrass and hot chilies. Serve hot.
Serves 4.
Cook's Notes: Add our Tom Yum Soup Set to your online shopping cart to quickly acquire all the necessary Thai herbs to make this delicous Tom Yum Soup. Also see our other Tom Yum Soup recipes in our Homestyle Thai Recipes index.
Recipe source Thai Vegetarian Cookbook © 2008 Sangdad; available for sale in our online grocery for Thai food, cookware and cookbooks.
Vegetarian Prawns are made from konjac shaping and coloring to resemble real prawns. Konjac is known as a health food, as it contains glucomannan which is the natural fiber that helps to ease constipation, reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.
To purchase vegetarian prawns online, please see May Wah Healthy Vegetarian Food Inc. (located in NYC).
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