Fiery Chicken Tom Yum | Helia Jamshidi

For 5 big bowls. Hot and sour Thai chicken soup: lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, a lot of chili, lime at the very end.

Before you start

Stock on first, lid on: 2.5 l takes about 10 min to boil. You prep while it heats.
Big pot: at least 4 to 5 litres.
Smash, don't chop: lemongrass and chilies. Flat of a knife or the bottom of a pan.
Slice the chicken thin (about 5 mm). 10 min in the freezer first makes it easier.
Lime juice goes in with the heat OFF. Boiled lime turns bitter.
Lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves: flavour only, don't eat them. Fish them out or eat around them.
Wash your hands after the chilies, before touching your eyes or blowing your nose.
Using noodles? Start their water when the chicken goes in.
At the end: season in stages, two thirds first, then taste. Sour, salty and burning hot, all at once.
Warm the bowls before serving.

Where this comes from: this is Claude's version of classic Thai tom yum gai (hot and sour chicken soup), written by Claude, not taken from a cookbook. The amounts, times, heat settings and shopping notes are Claude's suggestions.

For a cold: capsaicin, the hot part of chili, makes your nose run and can loosen a blocked nose for a while. That is why plenty of people eat very spicy food when they have a cold. It is comfort food, not a treatment.

Heat guide

This is a soup, so heat means how hard the liquid bubbles. Dial numbers are for a 1 to 9 stove and are a rough guide only: stoves differ, so trust what the surface looks like.

OffBurner off. Bubbling stops within a few seconds. This is where the lime and fish sauce go in.

Gentle simmerAbout 2 to 3. A few small, lazy bubbles breaking the surface. Keeps the chicken tender.

SimmerAbout 4 to 5. Small bubbles all over, the surface moves steadily but doesn't churn.

Rolling boilAbout 8 to 9. Big bubbles that keep going even when you stir. Only to bring the stock up, never with the chicken in.

Shopping and mise

Where to buy (Frankfurt)

From a check of the stores' online listings. An online listing doesn't guarantee that your branch has it on the shelf.

Rewe or Aldi Chicken stock, rice noodles, coconut milk, button mushrooms, tomato, sugar.
Rewe Boneless chicken thighs (Hähnchenoberkeule ohne Knochen, sold with skin: pull it off), lemongrass (fresh, or as paste or in brine), fresh ginger, dried makrut lime leaves (Lien Ying Thai Kaffir-Limettenblätter), fish sauce, limes, cilantro, spring onions, oyster mushrooms.
Asia shop Only here: fresh galangal (frischer Galgant), nam prik pao (Thai Chilipaste in Öl: Mae Pranom, Maesri or Pantainorasingh), fresh bird's eye chilies (frische Thai-Chilis). Also good for fresh or frozen lime leaves and fresh lemongrass.
Aldi Süd's online range had no fish sauce, lemongrass, lime leaves or cilantro, so do those at Rewe.

Skipping the Asia shop? Rewe-only swaps

Galangal → fresh ginger, same amount. Less piney, still good.
Nam prik pao → Rewe's Tom Yum paste (Real Thai or Lien Ying). Different product: it already has sour and salt in it. Use 2 to 3 tbsp, then start with half the fish sauce and half the lime, taste, add.
Bird's eye chilies → Rewe's red chilies (milder, use 8 to 10) + 1 to 2 tsp dried chili flakes to bring the heat up.

What runs in parallel

Minutes from start, a suggested order. While the stock heats, you prep. The noodles (green) cook in their own pot while the chicken simmers.

Steps

Stock on, prep the rest

about 10 min · until it boils

Rolling boilabout 8 to 9 of 9, lid on (rough guide)

Pot: Pot of 4 to 5 l or more, 2.5 l stock, lid on. (Tom Kha style: 1.9 l stock now, 600 ml coconut milk in step 4.)
Done when: Big bubbles that keep going. 2.5 l takes about 10 min.

Lemongrass: cut off the dry top and root, cut in 5 cm pieces, smash until it splits.
Galangal: slice into thin coins. No need to peel.
Lime leaves: tear in half.
Chilies: smash so they crack open. 15 = hot, 25 = very hot.
Slice chicken thin. Tear or halve mushrooms, tomato in wedges, juice the limes, chop cilantro and spring onion.

Don't forget Wash your hands after the chilies.

Bundles of fresh lemongrass stalks standing in a blue crate at a market — Lemongrass: use the pale, thick lower part. Photo: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0

Pale, knobbly galangal roots with pink tips — Galangal: paler and harder than ginger. Photo: Ruth Hartnup, CC BY 2.0

Glossy makrut lime leaves on a branch with knobbly green fruit — Makrut lime leaves: glossy, double leaf. Photo: Jpbrigand2, CC BY-SA 4.0

A pile of small green, red and orange bird's eye chilies — Bird's eye chilies: small, very hot. Photo: Jiafei Slay Queen, CC0

Done

Infuse the aromatics

5 min

Boil, then simmerback to the boil, then about 4 to 5 of 9 (rough guide)

Pot: Lid off.
While cooking: Small bubbles all over, steady, not churning.
Done when: 5 min, and the kitchen smells of lemongrass and lime.
If wrong: Boiling hard and reducing: turn it down.

Into the boiling stock: lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, smashed chilies.
Back to the boil, then down to a simmer. 5 min.

Done

Chicken

8 to 10 min

Gentle simmerabout 2 to 3 of 9 (rough guide)

Ready when: 1 kg of cold chicken stops the bubbling. Turn up until it simmers again, then back down.
While cooking: A few lazy bubbles only. Hard boiling makes the chicken tough.
Skim: Grey foam rises in the first minutes: lift it off with a spoon.
Done when: Cut the thickest piece: white all the way through, no pink.
If wrong: Pieces still pink at 10 min: they were cut thick. 2 more min, check again.

Add the 1 kg sliced chicken. Stir to separate the pieces.
Bring it back to a simmer, then down to gentle. Skim the foam. At 8 min, cut a piece to check.
Noodles? Put their water on now (step 6).

Don't forget Skim the foam, or the broth turns cloudy and grey.

Done

Mushrooms, tomato, chili paste

3 min

Simmerabout 4 to 5 of 9 (rough guide)

While cooking: Small bubbles all over.
Done when: Mushrooms soft, tomato edges just softening. 3 min.

Add 400 g mushrooms, 3 tomatoes in wedges, 3 tbsp nam prik pao (up to 5 for more heat and colour). Stir it in.
Tom Kha style: add 600 ml coconut milk now. Simmer, don't boil hard.
Using Rewe's Tom Yum paste instead: 2 to 3 tbsp, then go easy in step 5.

A jar labelled chili paste in oil next to a small bowl of dark red paste — Nam prik pao: often labelled "chili paste in oil". Dark red, sweet and smoky. Photo: Susan Slater, CC BY-SA 4.0

Done

Season with the heat OFF

3 min · in stages, taste and adjust

Offburner off, wait until the bubbling stops

Why: Boiled lime juice turns bitter and loses its fresh sourness.
If wrong: Too sour: a pinch more sugar. Too salty: more lime or a splash of water. Flat: more fish sauce.

Heat off. First two thirds: 5 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp sugar, 6 tbsp lime juice. Stir.
Taste: it should be sour, salty and burning hot all at once.
Then add the rest a spoon at a time: fish sauce (up to 8 tbsp) for salt, lime (up to 10 tbsp) for sour, sugar (up to 3 tsp).

Don't forget Lime goes in last, never boiled. Season in stages: 5 bowls is hard to fix once it is too salty.

Done

Rice noodles (optional, in parallel)

packet time · start with step 3

Boil, or just soaksmall pot of water, about 8 to 9 of 9 (rough guide)

Pot: Separate pot, not the soup: the starch clouds the broth.
Done when: Soft, with a little bite. Follow the packet: some just soak in hot water.
If wrong: Sticking together: rinse under the tap and toss.

Cook or soak 250 g rice noodles per the packet. Drain.
Split between the bowls you serve now. Keep the rest separate.

Done

Build the bowl

2 min · bottom to top

Bowl, noodles in it if using base
1Chicken and mushrooms
2Ladle of hot broth
3Cilantro
4Spring onion
5Extra chili, if you dare

Don't forget Lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves are not for eating. Eat around them.

Don't forget Cilantro and spring onion: the easiest to forget.

Don't forget Warm the bowls first. Anyone eating later: keep their noodles separate so they don't go mushy.

Tom yum gai in a metal hot pot with chicken, mushrooms and herbs in a reddish broth — A restaurant tom yum gai, served in a hot pot. Not this exact recipe, but the look you want. Photo: FASTILY, CC BY-SA 4.0

Done

Variations

Hotter: warm 4 to 5 tbsp oil in a small pan on low to medium (about 3 to 4 of 9), add 2 to 3 tsp chili flakes, swirl 20 to 30 seconds until fragrant and red, not black. Stir into the soup at the end.
Creamier, Tom Kha style: 1.9 l stock + 600 ml coconut milk (1.5 cans of 400 ml, in step 4). Keep it at a simmer so it doesn't split.
Vietnamese twist: add 5 minced garlic cloves and 3 cm minced ginger with the stock in step 1. Finish with Thai basil, bean sprouts and sriracha.

Leftovers

Leftover soup keeps in the fridge. Reheat to a simmer, then add fresh lime juice off the heat.
Store noodles separately from the soup.
Fresh lime leaves and lemongrass freeze well in a bag. Use them straight from frozen next time.

Photo credits

All photos are from Wikimedia Commons, resized. None of them shows this exact recipe: the soup photo in step 7 is a restaurant tom yum gai.