Simple Thai-style Lemongrass Shrimp Soup
"You won't believe how easy and good it is. Try this and you may never be able to eat a shrimp soup in a Thai restaurant again. This is a blend of two recipes from a really good Thai cookbook, adapted to use easier-to-find ingredients (as recommended in the book, ginger instead of galangal, lime juice instead of lime leaves) and simplified a little. You can make it also with thinly sliced chicken breast instead of shrimp if you add the chicken about the time you add mushrooms and tomatoes and cook everything for a bit longer."
photo by carolina.duenas.baro
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 6 slices gingerroot
- 1 lime
- 2 small red chilies
- 4 cups water
- 4 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic
- 6 ounces tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I use white or baby bella)
- 25 small cooked shrimp
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
directions
- Cut off the dry end and a few top leaves of the lemongrass stem.
- Bruise the stem with the handle of a knife and cut into 1-inch long pieces.
- Reserve.
- Bruise the chilies, cut them in half, scoop out and discard the seeds.
- Reserve the chilies.
- Bring the water to boil.
- Add lemongrass and ginger, and squeeze out half the lime into the water.
- Boil 2-3 minutes.
- Add fish sauce and chili-garlic paste.
- Cook for another minute.
- Add tomatoes and mushrooms.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes (or longer, until it boils and the tomatoes start to fall apart).
- Squeeze the other half of the lime into the soup.
- Take off the heat.
- Add the chilies and let stand a few seconds, then add the shrimp.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.
- Leave lemongrass, ginger and chilies in the soup and either try to pour the soup without them, or, better, pour the soup with chunks of lemongrass and ginger in it and warn your guests not to eat these.
- They do add flavour when left in the soup while you eat it.
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Reviews
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I am a connoisseur of lemongrass soup. Asian food is in my bones. This is just fabulous and easy - and I've written seven cookbooks, none self published and have sold over a million. Wonderful soup. Hearty without being thick. It's just GOOD. -
The chili paste alone made the dish quite hot, and I omitted the chili's. I also grated the ginger, and used vegetable broth with homegrown lemongrass. Really good! I'll add this to my short-list of great soups. -
I used chicken broth and water, also add chicken thigh along with shrimp. It was amazing. I just have to be careful with the chiles. Some were spicy and the heat was a tad much. It was amazingly easy. The flavor was on point and exactly what I was looking for in lemongrass soup.
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Wow....I was really impressed. This was the first time making this soup and It tasted as good as the one I get from the Thai restaurant. This is a must try for those who like Tom Yum soup. -
I made this for dinner last night as we are all battling colds. This warmed us up and the spice helped unclog our sinuses. But a couple family members complained to was too spicy so I will cut back on the chilies or chili paste next time. I used half water and half vegetable broth for the base but other wise followed the directions. I didn't count out the shrimp so there may have been more than what was called for.
see 13 more reviews
Tweaks
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I used two lemongrass stalks (I actually have had some growing in a giant pot for years). I grated the ginger (freezing it makes it easier to grate) and toasted the chilis. Used chicken broth instead of water. I boiled the above three ingredients in the broth then strained the broth and continued with the rest of the recipe as written. No tough pieces to have to pick out of the soup -
Made this tonight for me and my husband. This is definitely resteraunt quality. I could not find lemongrass. Used "Gourmet Garden"-Fresh Blends, Thai Herb & Spice Blend (This has all of the ingredients that was called in the recipe). I had clam sauce, so I used this instead of Fish sauce.Used fresh shrimp and put them in with the mushrooms and tomatoes. Like others I used chicken broth rather than water and added more lime, then threw the leftover lime into the pot to add more zest to it. This was absolutely delicious, We loved the heat and all the flavors this dish gives. It's a keeper! Next time I think I will try throwing in a pinch of cumin, and see what happens. Thank You for sharing! -
This was really simple. I substituted soy sauce for fish sauce & sauted chicken for shrimp, couldn't find fresh red chiles, used the dried instead and just let them simmer about 15 minutes . We were amazed at how close it was to the soup at our favorite Thai restaurant. -
this recipe is so simple, yet very tasty! I used chicken stock instead of water. I also also used 4 chilies, 3 limes, fresh tiger prawns and added 1 TB rice vinegar. Thanks for the easy week-night recipe!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Anya4405
United States
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