Tom Yum Soup Recipe (ต้มยำกุ้ง) - Authentic Thai Style

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1. 1Step 1: Put about 2 liters of water in a pot to boil.
2. 2Step 2: Slice about 10 limes and juice them all into a small bowl, and set them aside for later.
3. 3Step 3: Take your stalks of lemongrass, tear off the outermost leaf and throw it out, lightly pound the lemongrass with a mallet to release the flavors, then slice it diagonally into 1 inch strips or so.
4. 4Step 4: Take about 1 thumb sized chunk of the root part of galangal, and chop it into slices.
5. 5Step 5: Coarsely break about 10 kaffir lime leaves by tearing them to help release their flavor.
6. 6Step 6: Peel about 5 cloves of garlic.
7. 7Step 7: Take about 10 Thai bird chilies, take off the stem, and either slice them in two pieces or give them a little pound on your cutting board; you can also remove the seeds if you'd still like the chili flavor but not as much heat.
8. 8Step 8: Throw the lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and chilies into the water. You can put on the lid just so it starts to boil and release all the herb flavors quicker.
9. 9Step 9: Prepare your shrimp by chopping off all the tentacles.
10. 10Step 10: Boil your soup with all the herbs in it for about 10 minutes, then toss in the shrimp and turn the fire to low.
11. 11Step 11: Add your mushrooms, which you should pre rinse beforehand.
12. 12Step 12: Take two roma tomatoes and two small white onions and slice them into wedges, then add them to the tom yum.
13. 13Step 13: If you're using shrimp, lightly skim off any foam build up on top of your soup and toss it out.
14. 14Step 14: Boil the tom yum for about 2 - 3 minutes.
15. 15Step 15: Add about 6 tablespoons of fish sauce first, and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
16. 16Step 16: Boil your tom yum for another minute or so and then turn off the heat.
17. 17Step 17: Add about 8 tablespoons of lime juice (depending on how sour you like it).
18. 18Step 18: Taste test until your tom yum is perfectly sour and salty; you might need to add more fish sauce, sugar, or lime juice.
19. 19Step 19: Chop up a handful of fresh cilantro, throw it in the soup, and give your tom yum a final stir.
20. 20Step 20: You now have Tom yum goong nam sai (ต้มยำกุ้งน้ำใส), the clear version of tom yum.
21. 21Step 21: For the creamy version, take out about ½ of the tom yum and set it aside as the clear version, then make the other ½ as the creamy version.
22. 22Step 22: Turn your heat back on low.
23. 23Step 23: Add about 3 heaping tablespoons of Thai roasted chili sauce (nam prik pao น้ำพริกเผา) to your soup and stir it in.
24. 24Step 24: Add about 10 tablespoons of evaporated milk.
25. 25Step 25: Mix it all in and let your soup heat up for about 1 minute.
26. 26Step 26: Taste test and evaluate; you might need more lime juice and more fish sauce. Keep taste testing until it's exactly how you like it.