tom yum goong with live pacific pink shrimps

I started seriously making Thai dishes recently. I have made 2 trips to Thailand in the last 2 years and I love the food there.
I have made a few variation of soup based on tom yum goong. What I use is driven what I have on hand. Unlike in the US in Thailand a shrimp tom yum goong is prepared with and served with a good part of the head. The heads bring a lot of flavor to the soup and by discarding them you discard the flavors that is there otherwise.


I have prepared tom yum goong with shrimps that came with the head. However they are frozen farmed shrimps. I have been waiting for the pink shrimps to arrive to make the soup. This weekend my fish monger has them. They are the large ones that is perfect for it.
they are all alive

as soon as i arrived home i put them in cool tap water - that is the best i could do for them even though they won't live for long; note their large head with respect to the body

 immediate i blanch them in very little water in high heat but only half cooked

I peeled the head and body shell and added them to the pot of water that I boil the lemon grass; I also add all the juice and the blanching water to the pot. I also bought a lot of live clams so I use a few for a bowl of serving. The right way of making tom yum goon requires no broth, home made or store bought because all the flavors comes from the ingredients including the fish sauce.
Speaking of fish sauce, there are a lot of expensive ones that has MSG. Contrary to common perception the best ones are around $2.50 a bottle while the fancy ones spiced with MSG cost twice as much. The two brands in the picture are my favorite brands in recent years.

the scale brand and the golden child brand are two brands that i like - please note you have to be careful as there are knockoffs that look alike; note the direction of the bottle the boy is clutching; there is a knockoff brand also has a boy clutching the bottle but points to the left

these pink shrimps are very perishable even when cooked - they literally disintegrate right in front of your eyes; now i only buy enough that i can consume in a short time; i bought only 1/2 pound this time

the finished product with the freshest wild ingredients from the sea - there is 3 or 4 shrimps and a few medium size clams

 you can see the shrimp shrink quite a bit so you waste a lot if you discard the heads and shells

 like thai would do, i suck the head dry