Tom yum goong

Before you start

• prawns with their heads and shells on — the shells are most of the stock

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 320gprawns — shell on, heads on
• 80gjasmine rice
• 150gchestnut mushrooms — or straw mushrooms from a tin
• 2lemongrass
• 1 thumbgalangal or ginger
• 6kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tbsproasted chilli paste (nam prik pao)
• 2 tbspfish sauce
• 2limes
• 3chillies
• 1 handfulcoriander

Method

6 steps

1. chop · 10m

   Prawns peeled, heads and shells kept, the dark vein along the back lifted out. Lemongrass bruised flat with the side of the knife and cut into lengths, galangal sliced into coins, lime leaves torn rather than cut so they release properly.

2. simmer · 15m

   Heads and shells fried for a minute in a dry pan until they turn orange and smell sweet, then covered with 800ml of water and simmered, then strained. That pan of shells is the difference between tom yum and hot water with prawns in it.

3. boil · 15m walk away

   Rice rinsed and on, lid, lowest heat.

4. simmer · 10m

   Lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and bruised chillies into the strained stock and held at a low bubble until it smells of all of them, then the mushrooms and the chilli paste.

5. finish · 3m

   Prawns in for two minutes only, until they curl and turn opaque right through. A minute past that and they are rubber, and they carry on cooking in the bowl.

6. finish · 3m

   Pot off the heat completely, then the fish sauce and all the lime juice in and tasted. Coriander over. Sour and hot, in that order, and salty underneath both.