Soup of happiness

Ladies and gentlemen!
Today I want to tell you about the famous food of Thailand Tom Yam soup.
I adhere to the principle that, arriving in another country, you need to try the local authentic cuisine. Therefore, the first thing I went to one of the restaurants to try the most popular dish in the country - Tom Yam soup.

To Yam is a whole family of soups, the word itself translates as "cook spicy", because it necessarily includes chili peppers and other hot spices.

The composition of the soup, as a rule, includes chili, ginger, shoots of young bamboo, lime, lemongrass, mushrooms, tomatoes. The broth is cooked on the basis of chicken with coconut milk. This is the basis, but the presence of fish, seafood, shrimps or chicken in the soup divides it into separate varieties. For example, Tom-Yam-Pla (with fish), Tom-Yam-Kai (with chicken), Tom-Yam-Thale (with shrimp , scallops, mussels, squid and other seafood), Tom-Yam-Kung (with shrimps).
The most popular variety among tourists is Tom-Yam-Kung, with shrimps, it's also my favourite.

Tom Yam in different regions of Thailand can be different, and each Thai housewife has her own little secrets of cooking soup, about the same as in Ukraine, where each housewife cooks borsch in its own way, following the basic recipe.
The color of the soup ranges from pale orange to bright orange, because of chili pepper, which is an essential ingredient.
Different restaurants bring soup in different ways: in deep plates or in a special vessel, in the lower part of which there is a small burner to keep the temperature of the soup hot.

Serve Tom Yam with boiled rice on a separate plate. You, at your discretion, can pour this rice into the soup or bite the soup with rice. Personally, I prefer the second option. Since the soup is spicy, it is good to drink it with cold beer, water or another drink.

Tom Yam of any kind is very good in that it is a tasty, hearty and light dish. One serving of soup for lunch is enough to not feel hunger until late in the evening. Tom Yam has a sharp, piquant and rich taste. For me it is a taste of happiness.
Tom Yam is part of the Thai culture, history and national character of Thais, and I highly recommend that people planning to visit Thailand should definitely try it.