Easy Chicken Feet Tom Yum – Tom Yum Teen Gai
Sour, spicy and very fragrant – this Chicken Feet Tom Yum soup is very comforting yet super delicious. Featuring a collagen-rich food – chicken feet – it’s one of the super rare Thai dishes that is only served in Thai households. Restaurants tend to serve up more popular dishes such as Tom Yum Goong or Seafood Tom Yum – so this elusive dish is only whipped up at home.
Enjoy it with a plate of fluffy white Jasmine rice, or prepare some rice vermicelli to add to the soup as noodles.
Serves 5 adults.
What is Chicken Feet Tom Yum?
Tom Yum is an authentically Thai soup that literally means “boiled mixture”. The signature fragrant and herbal flavour comes from the tom yum paste – a blended mix of fresh herbs that is cooked and reduced together into a paste. Additional herbs and aromatics are dry roasted to activate the fragrance and add a little caramelization to them before boiling to extract the essence into the soup.
While any protein can be added for natural sweetness, this recipe introduces pre-boiled and softened chicken feet for an extra boost of collagen. You may wonder why bother using chicken feet as the protein when we have access to the breast meat, or thighs? This is because growing up in the village, chicken was a scarce treat. The feet tend to be the less popular part, which was often sold for a much cheaper price (this is still true today).
Thus, despite making a fancy meal (that is essentially what tom yum is), some Thai families will use chicken feet to keep the meal cost low at home. This is why it is difficult to find Tom Yum Teen Gai in restaurants, as it is only cooked in Thai households.
Despite all that, it’s actually chewy yet tender, going well with the sour and spicy soup that is loved by Thai people.
Ingredients
- Chicken feet, softened – here’s how to prepare them first.
- Salt, to taste
- Boneless chicken breast meat
- Chicken stock, or water. I used my homemade version, but you can use commercially available ones too.
- Cilantro roots
- Red & green bird’s eye chilli
- Shallots
- Kaffir lime leaves
- Young galangal, which can be eaten. Old galangal can be used as well – however, as they are more fibrous, they should not be consumed.
- Lemongrass
- Tom yum paste
- White shimeji mushroom
- Oyster mushroom
- Tomato
- Fish sauce
- Sugar
- Parsley
- Spring onions
- Lime juice
Utensils
Tips
- The stock used to cook the chicken feet was not used to obtain a clear tom yum broth. The stock can be used in other soup dishes as it contains lots of collagen.
- A stainless steel pan is recommended to dry roast the herbs, as using non-stick pans will damage the non-stick coating.
- To prevent thermal shock to the stainless steel pan, the herbs were transferred to the stockpot. After dry roasting, allow the stainless steel pan to cool down before washing.
- Watch the video to see exactly how I made it.
Storage Instructions
The chicken feet, once prepared, can be kept in the freezer for about 3 weeks. I had kept mine for about 2 weeks before perusing them in this recipe.
However, for the Chicken Feet Tom Yum soup, it’s recommended to fully consume it as soon as possible, to enjoy as much of the fragrance and aroma. It can be kept refrigerated for about 2-3 days, in a clean, air-tight container to be re-heated before enjoying it, or frozen for about 1 to 2 weeks.
Similar Recipes
- Easy Tom Yum Seafood Soup Recipe
- Clear Tom Yum Fish Soup – Tom Som Pla
- Authentic & Tantalizing Tom Yum Mee Hoon
Chicken Feet Tom Yum
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Stockpot/ Deep Pan
- Turner
- Ladle
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken feet, cleaned and boiled with 1/2 tbsp salt until softened (about 2.5 hours)
- 150 g boneless chicken breast
- 1/2 tsp salt, to marinate chicken
- 1 L chicken broth, or water
- 3 cilantro roots, washed and cleaned
- 30 g bird's eye chilli, mixed red and green
- 50 g shallots, peeled and washed
- 5 kaffir lime leaves, torn in 2 parts
- 40 g young galangal, sliced thinly
- 40 g lemongrass, smashed lightly
- 2.5 tbsp tom yum paste
- 100 g white shimeji mushroom, washed just before adding to the pot
- 120 g oyster mushroom, washed just before adding to the pot
- 150 g tomato, cut into wedges
- 1 tbsp fish sauce, to taste
- 1 tbsp sugar, to taste
- 25 g parsley, chopped
- 15 g spring onion, chopped
- 3 tbsp lime juice, 2 limes
Instructions
- Wash and clean the chicken feet. Submerge in water, mixed with 1/2 tbsp of salt and boil in a stock pot over medium heat for 2.5 hours, or until softened. Strain the chicken feet and set aside.
- Marinate the chicken breast with 1/4 tsp of salt twice, rubbing to distribute the salt evenly. Set aside.
- Boil the chicken stock, or water, over medium heat for about 6 minutes, or until it comes to a rolling boil.
- Dry roast the cilantro roots, mixed red and green bird's eye chilli, shallots, kaffir lime leaves, young galangal, and lemongrass in a stainless steel pan for about 7 minutes, or until very aromatic and slightly burnt. Stir the herbs to roast them evenly.
- Add the dry roasted herbs and chicken meat to the boiling chicken stock/ water. Stir the soup to separate the meat slightly. Cover the pan and let them boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the tom yum paste and stir to dissolve it in the soup until well-combined.
- Add the chicken feet, white shimeji mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and tomatoes on the top of the soup. Cover the pot and let them cook for 3 minutes.
- Stir to rotate the chicken feet, mushrooms and tomatoes.
- Taste and adjust as preferred. I added fish sauce for extra umami-ness and fragrance, and sugar to mellow the spiciness of the tom yum soup. Stir until well-combined.
- Switch off the heat. Add and submerge the chopped parsley and spring onions.
- Add lime juice and stir to combined.
- Taste and adjust as preferred. Serve immediately.
Notes
- The stock used to cook the chicken feet was not used to obtain a clear tom yum broth. The stock can be used in other soup dishes as it contains lots of collagen.
- A stainless steel pan is recommended to dry roast the herbs, as using non-stick pans will damage the non-stick coating.
- To prevent thermal shock to the stainless steel pan, the herbs were transferred to the stockpot. After dry roasting, allow the stainless steel pan to cool down before washing.