This Thai dish is similar to tom yum goong, except that this particular soup dish uses tamarind as its base. Tom yum goong, on the other hand, relies on lemongrass as its primary souring agent. In addition, the tomalley from the shrimp's head is pureed and used in this dish, as you can see in the picture.
Originally, the recipe called for crayfish. They have been hard to find lately, so I substituted regular prawns.
Tamarind Leaves
The tamarind leaves in this dish provide that extra tartness along with the tamarind water. They are commonly used in soup dishes in Southeast Asian cooking. The leaves are sour, although not as sour as the unripe fruit. Although I have never tried sorrel leaves, it's been said that tamarind leaves have a similar taste to them, which can be used as a substitute.
Hot Sour Prawn Soup With Tamarind Leaves
Recipe(source: Thai Food by David Thompson)
Ingredients:
12 large freshwater crayfish or prawns
4 dried or fresh long chillies (soak for at least 15 minutes, if using dried chillies)
2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed
5 red shallots, unpeeled
4 cups stock
pinch of salt
1 bunch washed tamarind leaves or 2 bunches sorrel leaves
palm sugar, to taste (optional)
2 tbsp (30 ml) tamarind water
2 tbsp (30 ml) fish sauce
Directions:
Blanch crayfish or prawns in salted boiling water. Plunge in ice water as soon is its color changes. Shell and devein.
Scrape out the tomalley from heads and puree.
This is what gives the soup its orange color.
This is what gives the soup its orange color.
Grill the chillies and lemongrass until charred and shallots until soft.
Peel the shallots once they've cooled.
Even charred lemongrass smells wonderful.
Bring stock to a boil, add salt, chillies, lemongrass, shallots, tamarind leaves (or sorrel leaves) and the crayfish (or prawns) with their tomalley.
Season with sugar (optional), tamarind water and fish sauce. The broth's taste should be a balance of hot, sour and salty.
Similar recipe(s): Filipino version
9 foodies have spoken::
Your photography is stunning and you always seem to feature an exotic ingredient that I never knew was edible, let alone delicious. Another great post!
Love all the ingredients....beautiful flavour! I love Thai food. I see that you are very much into Thai cooking.....awesome! Well Done!
Yummo!
You have the most marvelous knack of creating foods that are going to be way up high on my smellometer!
All these wonderful aromatic ingredients all together is just fantastic.
Another great one dear!
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
@ Denise- Thank you. I am glad you're learning something from the stuff I blog about because that is one the goals of this blog - to share my 'discoveries' with others. :) I never knew tamarind or chili leaves were edible either.
As exciting and interesting as it is to try out all these new (to me) ingredients, I actually miss Western food. It can get expensive and frustrating trying to recreate it over here, so might as well adjust and use the local ingredients.
I've noticed that you're in S'pore. These ingredients should be available to you. If not, there's always next door neighbor M'sia for the ingredients. :)
@ Mary - Thanks. Eating out can get expensive, so I might as well learn it myself. I have a confession to make, I think I'm falling in love with tamarind leaves. It's now under the list of my favorite ingredients.
@ Devaki- Thanks. They are indeed aromatic and fantastic!
Sounds authentic and delicious. I've yet to cook with lemongrass but it has such a nice aroma, as I'm sure this tasty soup does too!
@ Sophie - Thanks for visiting. It was delicious and very aromatic indeed. If you like sour, you will like this. :)
It is an authentic recipe. I asked my Thai friends to check out the cookbook "Thai Food" by David Thompson and they said the recipes are authentic, not adjusted to the Western palate as most Thai cookbooks are.
I agree, lemongrass has a nice aroma and you should start using it. It makes dining even more pleasurable when your food is aromatic. :)
@ Sophie - Thanks for visiting. It was delicious and very aromatic indeed. If you like sour, you will like this. :)
It is an authentic recipe. I asked my Thai friends to check out the cookbook "Thai Food" by David Thompson and they said the recipes are authentic, not adjusted to the Western palate as most Thai cookbooks are.
I agree, lemongrass has a nice aroma and you should start using it. It makes dining even more pleasurable when your food is aromatic. :)
Love everything about this - I especially love spicy broths in soup and have just recently starting using lemon grass - such a bright flavor!!
Thanks for sharing!
@ biz319 - Thanks for dropping by. I love using lemongrass. This soup's flavor is a combination of hot and sour.
I visited your site and since you're an insulin-dependent diabetes, just in case you didn't/don't know, if you're blood sugar level is high, this broth is a good way to decrease it because of the tamarind's and its leaves' acidity.
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