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Another Thai breakfast video! Kao Tom is such a classic breakfast dish in Thailand. You can think of this as the Thai sister of congee which is of Chinese origin. Instead of being porridge-like, it's more of a soup. Jasmine rice is added to flavourful broth, and it's one of the most comforting dishes. It's a great breakfast in the winter too!
To put this together quickly in the morning: Make the broth and whatever protein you like in advanced and keep them in the fridge. Have some cooked jasmine rice in the fridge, too. Comes time to eat, bring the broth to a boil, add the rice and protein and let it heat up thoroughly. Et voila!
P.S. I'm using shrimp but you can use any protein you like for this.
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!
Thai Breakfast Rice Soup with Shrimp (Kao Tom Goong)
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 3 cups pork stock or chicken stock, unsalted (homemade is best, here's a recipe!)
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ tsp white peppercorns
- 6 cilantro stems or 2 cilantro roots
- ~150g shrimp, cut into small chunks, plus a few extra whole ones for garnish if you so desire
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- ½ Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice (this amount is flexible depending on whether you like thick or brothy soup)
Condiments
- Fried garlic & oil (see instructions)
- Green onion and/or cilantro
- Chinese preserved cabbage (optional)
- Extra ground white pepper if needed
Instructions
- Pound white peppercorns until fine, then add garlic and cilantro stem/roots and pound until fine. Add half of this paste to your small pieces of shrimp and mix well.
- Saute the small pieces of shrimp in a pan with a little bit of oil just until it's cooked through. Deglaze the pan with some stock as needed and scrape any bits of herb stuck to the bottom. Remove from pan and set aside.
- If using whole garnish shrimp, sear the whole shrimp over medium high heat until browned and cooked through, set aside.
- Bring the stock to a boil in a pot, add the other half of the herb paste and simmer for one minute.
- Season with fish sauce and soy sauce, then taste and adjust seasoning.
- When ready to serve, bring the broth to a boil then add the rice and the shrimp. Bring the soup back to a simmer, and immediately turn off the heat (if you let this simmer for a long time the rice will swell up and absorb too much stock). Serve immediately, if you let this sit, the rice will continue to absorb liquid. Ladle into a bowl, and top with all the condiments as desired. Enjoy!
To make fried garlic and garlic oil
- Chop a head of garlic into small pieces and fry them in neutral-flavoured oil. Use just enough oil to cover the garlic.
- Use very low heat to fry, keeping the bubbling gentle and stirring frequently, until golden and crispy.
- Strain the garlic from the oil and keep the two separate. You can keep these in the fridge and add them to anything for extra garlic flavour!
Keywords: breakfast, porridge, rice soup, gluten free, congee
Jeem Peterson
You are great (don't let it go to your head), I have followed your skill and craft for many a Sangkran. I travel to Thailand just to cook, and love it (just got back from Chiangmai is wonderful, and Bangkok is full of smog. Put me on your cook book list as soon as it is ready to come out and I will have a happy smile.
Wai to ya 555
Jeem
★★★★★
Nadine
love it, very much reminds me of my Thailand holidays!
★★★★★
Mary Murrain
I had this (but for dinner). Simple to make and simply delicious and fulfilling.
Aarin Pongpipat
Thank you for this simple recipe! I crave this often. I used to be able to have it shipped to me from Thailand (the instant packets), but for years now the US has stopped allowing it into the country. I don't know why. Question: some ingredients seem to be missing from the way I usually eat it. Perhaps the way I eat it isn't authentic? Anyway, I typically put chili garlic sauce, cilantro, Thai chilies in vinegar, a little sugar, fish sauce, lots of fresh ginger, and a soft-boiled egg. Am I thinking of a different recipe?
★★★★★
Pailin Chongchitnant
Thank you! From what you describe it sounds like you're thinking about "jok" or congee, which is a different kind of rice porridge that's usually served with ginger and soft boiled eggs. I have a recipe for that too!
Pailin Chongchitnant
Dried chili flakes would be good!
Lex Starwalker
I LOVE this soup! Such a delicious dish and so easy to make. The recipe is very easy to follow.
I wanted to point out that the "jump to video" link doesn't work. The video isn't imbedded on this page (I'm not sure if it's supposed to be or not, but it would be nice if it were). Also, when you click the "jump to video" link, the link it takes you to on this page just goes to your YouTube channel, it doesn't go to the actual video. It would be really nice if you added a link to the specific video.
★★★★★
Adam from HTK
Hi Lex! Adam here, and glad you liked it! 🙂 I just tried this and the "Jump to video" link works for me and takes me to the imbedded video inside the post - or at least it did this time. This version of the video isn't on YouTube BTW but on AdThrive, so not sure how you ended up on YouTube. I'm going to keep looking into this though, and sorry for the trouble! 🙂 Have a great day! Adam
Lex Starwalker
Hi Adam,
Thanks for your reply. I'm still not seeing any video. I've tried on PC and Android. I'm using the Brave browser, which is built on Chromium if that helps you at all..
Adam from HTK
Hi Lex! ... and sorry to hear that - very weird! Can you send me an email at adam@hotthaikitchen.com - I want to send you some screenshots to see if we can figure out what's happening. Cheers! Adam
Lex Starwalker
Will do! Email sent. 🙂
Jonathan
I missed this dish from my business trios to Thailand as I always have this for breakfast... Made kao tom gai version for dinner... and my family loved it (twice)!!! The paste is a little more challenging if you don't have the mortar and pastle... gotta chop the ingredients finely and squash the last bit of it. Also need to reduce the rice portion compared to usual cooked rice... as it does puff up a little and can be a bit too much...
Lyn
Made it, love it.
Family wants more!
★★★★★