Thai Tom Yum Soup enhanced with a Chinese ‘egg drop’ technique
This Tom Yum Egg Drop Soup recipe maintains a classic spicy Thai broth but is enhanced with a fuffy egg-drop omelette. Garnished with crisp lettuce, fresh herbs, spring onions, red chilli and lots of zingy lime. A delicious refreshing, light and energy-boosting meal.
What does the ‘egg-drop’ mean in this Tom Yum Egg Drop Soup recipe?
The ‘egg drop’ refers to adding a beaten egg to simmering water or soup stock, in this case, Thai Tom Yum broth, then left to gently cook until firm and resembling a sort of omelette. This technique is often used in Chinese cooking. See cooking instructions and photos below.
A beaten egg dropped into simmering Tom Yum Soup and left to form an omelette
What is Tom Yum Soup?
Tom Yum is a traditional hot and sour soup from Thailand normally made with shrimp, chicken or pork. Vegetables included can be sliced carrot, tomatoes, greens, spring onions or mushrooms. The word Tom represents the meaning of the ‘boiling process’ while yum is a spicy and sour Thai Salad. I guess you could think of tom yum as a hot salad soup.
What is Tom Yum paste made of?
Traditionally a charcoal fire is used to roast chilli, garlic and shallots. These ingredients are then combined to make a paste called nam prik pao. This is the base of the soup which is then finished by adding fresh ingredients of lemongrass, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, galangal (a root similar to ginger), lime juice and additional red chilli.
How do I make Tom Yum Soup?
Prepared and jarred tom yum soup paste can be purchased in Asian supermarkets and sometimes in the international section of large commercial supermarkets. Most people will be familiar with making the soup using the prepared paste. For a single serving, simply add 1 heaped teaspoon of tom yum paste, along with a cup of water or stock to a saucepan, then whisk and heat until lightly boiling.
Add desired meat or vegetables, simmer, and when ready, pour into a bowl and garnish generously with herbs such as mint, coriander or basil. Some people like to add coconut milk for additional flavour and cool down the heat of chilli.
Above: a classic spicy Tom Yum Soup with shredded poached chicken, tomato, mushrooms and Thai basil
Tom Yum Egg Drop Soup
Spicy Thai Tom Yum Egg Drop Soup recipe with fresh herbs, salad and lime juice
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Vegetarian
- Cuisine: Thai soup
Ingredients
- 1 heaped tsp Thai Tom Yum paste (depending on how spicy you like it)
- 250ml water or stock
- 1 egg
- Sea salt flakes
- Handful crisp lettuce leaves
- Small handful of combined coriander and mint leaves
- 1/2 lime
- Black sesame seeds for garnish
- 1/2 birds eye red chilli, sliced thin (optional)
Instructions
- Combine Tom Yum paste and water or stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Beat the egg in a separate bowl and season with salt.
- Once the soup has started to boil, turn the heat down to a medium boil and drop in the beaten egg. Refer to images in the article above for visual directions on how to do an egg drop.
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Allow the egg to gently simmer 1 minute or until firm and has puffed up to resemble an omelette.
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Transfer spicy egg soup to a bowl. Add lettuce leaves, scatter with sliced spring onion and then squeeze generously with lime juice.
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Finish by garnishing with coriander, mint and a shake of black sesame seeds.
Keywords: recipe, food, Thai soup, eggs, vegetarian, spicy, Tom Yum, Tom yum soup, easy recipes, breakfast, lunch
If you liked this recipe you might be interested in:
- Roasted Chicken Ramen
Where to source ingredients:
Tom Yum Soup paste is available at most Asian Supermarkets. Details for purchasing online:
UK:
USA:
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