Fragrant Thai-Style Clams in Coconut Broth
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1tablespoon coconut oil
- 1red onion, peeled, halved and sliced into ¼-inch half-moons
- 2cups chicken broth
- 1stalk lemongrass, pale bottom part only, smashed and cut in thick diagonal slices
- 3slices galangal, ¼ inch thick (see note)
- 3slices ginger, ¼ inch thick
- 3 or 4small hot Thai chiles, thinly sliced
- 4makrut lime leaves, torn
- 1tablespoon palm sugar or brown sugar
- 1tablespoon fish sauce
- 1cup coconut milk
- Salt, to taste
- 2pounds small clams
- 1cup roughly chopped cilantro, leaves and tender stems
- ½cup thinly sliced scallions, white and tender green parts
- Lime wedges, for serving
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat coconut oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
- Step 2
Add lemongrass, galangal, ginger, chiles, lime leaves, sugar and fish sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add coconut milk, then taste broth for salt and adjust. (You may prepare up to this point 1 to 2 hours in advance and leave at room temperature.)
- Step 3
Bring mixture to a boil over high heat and add clams. Cover and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring once or twice, until all clams have opened.
- Step 4
Transfer clams to soup bowls. Strain broth if desired and ladle over clams. Sprinkle with cilantro and scallions. Squeeze lime over each bowl and serve with lime wedges.
- Galangal is available in most Asian groceries, and is also sold dried.
Private Notes
Comments
Substitution idea: I couldn't find galangal, lemongrass, and lime leaves because I was out of town. Worse, the cashier at the store left the chiles out of my bag--they were so tiny she must have thought the bag I put them in was empty. (It would have meant an hour drive to retrieve them!) Luckily, I discovered that Thai Kitchen's green chili paste has all the missing ingredients. I used 2 tablespoons and it was delicious.
I make tom yum goong all the time and I would recommend skipping the chicken stock and just adding shrimp shells (and heads if you have them) to water and the rest of the flavorings to make the broth. If you're going the clam/mussel route, I use frozen or bottled clam juice. I don't want my seafood soup tasting like chicken. I also like to add rice noodles for a more complete meal. And because, noodles!
Use chicken instead of shellfish and you have Tom Kha Gai (great if you're unable to eat them, like me) - this is my go-to when I'm sick, over jasmine rice. The broth is even worth making on its own!
Incredibly delicious! We made it exactly as the recipe instructed and used the leftover broth to make a Thai fish soup, which was also delicious. We then made the recipe two weeks later using mussels, instead of clams, which was equally as delicious! Definitely will put this on rotation with clams, mussels and fish. Served with soba noodles one of the times and rice a different time. Enjoyed the first batch by itself.
This was super delicious! Stayed pretty true to recipe but it is clearly forgiving to eyeball and estimate. Made it once as written and lovely. Went rogue tonight and used black cod instead of clams and added sliced orange bell pepper with the onion step, lots of cilantro at the end with some soy sauce for salt and some sriracha drizzle. Served over brown rice noodles. Yum!
Made with mussels. So very good. Delicate and not punchy.
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