Tom Yum Gai - thai soup rich in umami

I'm fond of soups and this one is no exception. Since I make chicken stock fairly often, and not always know what I'm going to cook, I omit thyme and other aromatic herbs used in european stocks. The recipe below is based on the chicken stock I've posted here.

Now lets make a Tom Yum Gai, rich in synergic umami tastes.  

Tom Yum simply means "hot and spicy" and denotes a soup, the signature dish from Thailand par excellence. Tom Yum Gai is a chicken soup, but there are many variations of this soup, Tom Yam Goong is a classic prawn soup.

The first time I made this soup, I lacked both galangal, kaffir lime leaves and Thai chili paste, but nevertheless it turned out a delicious soup. The point is, as I have since experienced, to ensure balance between the spicy, sour and salty tastes in the soup, with a little sweetness and some herbs with slightly bitter notes added. Moreover, one must ensure umami from stock, fish sauce, mushrooms and tomatoes. 

I’ve discovered that the balance of primary tastes is more important than one single ingredient as long as I have good homemade chicken stock as a foundation. I’ve made lots of variations of this soup where lemon substitute lime, I’ve used parsley instead of cilantro, ginger instead of galangal, and red curry paste instead of  chili paste. If I don’t have  kaffir lime leaves, I use zest from half a lime.

And I always use good homemade chicken stock, lemon grass, fish sauce and some mushrooms. This soup is healthy, surprisingly hearty, almost fat-free, and it spreads promising scents around the kitchen. I love that!

Ingredients for 3 servings:

For the soup stock:

1 liter (2quarts) chicken stock (synergic umami)

1 stalk lemon grass, cut into quarters and knocked lightly so the fibers tear.

2-3 cm (1 inch) fresh ginger, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic crushed

2-3 kaffer lime leaves 

2 tablespoons fish sauce (free glutamate)

1tbs red curry paste or chili paste. (Red curry contains both a little fish sauce and shrimp paste, both rich in umami)

1 teaspoon sugar

The important umami rich ingredients to add

300g/ 10 oz chicken meat, breast or thighs

60g/2 oz fungi, preferably fresh shiitake or enoki mushrooms in thin slices

4 cherry tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges, or 1 tomato in small cubes

Other ingredients to provide great taste

½ - 1 tbsp peanut oil or a neutral oil with high smoking point. 

1 small onion or 2 shalotts, finely sliced

2 scallions (spring onions), finely sliced

1 fresh red chili, finely chopped 

1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lime.

METHOD

Heat the stock with the ingredients for the soup stock mentioned above and let simmer for 10 minutes. Strain.

Prepare the garnish for the soup.  If you have raw chicken meat, cut  into fine strips and fry in oil for one minute, then lower the temperature, add onions and chili and cook until soft, 4-5 minutes.  If you use cooked chicken meat, add it to the soup a few minutes before serving.

Add onions and the chili to the strained soup stock. Bring to a boil.

Add the mushrooms and the tomato wedges. Boil further till you see the mushrooms slices  are cooked through and the tomatoes are still holding their shape. Add the lime juice.

Taste.  Is there balance between the basic tastes? Is the soup salty enough, sour enough, strong enough and with a little sweetness? Can you feel the taste of umami filling your mouth?  In order to identify the basic taste properly, close your nostrils between your thumb and index finger. Now it is easier to identify the basic tastes. Adjust taste to your liking with a little more fish sauce, red curry and limejuice. 

Serve in deep soup bowles with a sprinkling of cilantro and lime wedges 
Enjoy!

COMMENTS ON THIS RECIPE

Other garnish? Yes, of course, use whatever you have in the fridge. You can add leek, chinese cabbage or various herbs.

You can also use this recipe to make a soup with fish, seafood and/or prawns
 The soup can also be served with cooked rice or noodles  

   

Umami dearest!

"Food is our common ground, a universial experience". James Beard   

"Umami" is a japanese term meaning "essential savoury taste " or "essential meatlike taste".
Umami taste, however is universial and can be tasted in many signature dishes from around the world. In sushi, beef with oystersauce, in pasta puttanesca, pizza, hamburgers, bacalao, demi glace (french essence of a complex sauce), in bacon, hams, various cheeses and in fungi and sun riped tomatoes.


The "common ground" in all umami tasting essences, condiments, ingredients, and dishes are the result of a process of denaturated or somehow changed protein chains, forming into smaller amino acids. Free glutamate (GLU og L-glutamate) is the  most present amino acid in most food, and also for bringing to you and me, the savoury taste universally known as umami. But the most interesting aspect of the taste, is when you combine free glutamates with a few other taste components ( known as purines) to create synergistic umami. This blog will deal with that. And thsi is not an asian taste, not european either. Beware, and  stay tuned! 


Umami has a mild, complex taste that lasts longer in the mouth compared to the four other basic tastes, beeing sweet, salt, sour and bitter. The umami taste receptors on our tongue, in the mouth and  in the intestinal tract,  capture the glutamates in a trap, then signalling that important nutrition is on its way. The mouth waters, and thenerve signals go down through thousands of nerves to our stomach and further back into our brain in an area not far from the happiness and sugar centre. So, umami rich food is transforming you into a mouthwatering happy fool, craving for more of the savoury stuff. 

And it starts with breastmilk. Human breastmilk has enough umami to make you an addict, once you identify why you crave certain food. Join me on the journey of umami sensation. You're very welcome to share!

Regards Elisabeth