Recipe: Tom Kha Gai aka Thai Coconut Soup
Tom Kha Gai is one of the first Thai recipes I learned to make. It’s a crowd-pleaser and is super quick and easy to make. To this day, I will still make it for dinner parties and unexpected guests. It’s also convenient because most of the ingredients are ones that hold well. Galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and Thai chilis can all be frozen, in fact I always keep these ingredients well stocked in my freezer.
If you’re not familiar with this quintessential Thai dish, you’re in for a treat. Thai Coconut Soup, or Tom Kha Gai, is one of the most popular Thai dishes, you are almost guaranteed to see it on every menu. This comforting dish strikes just the right balance of sweet, savory, and sour. Trust me when I say to make double, it tastes even better the next day.
Now, to make Tom Kha Gai.
Recipe:
Serves 2 | Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Ingredients:
8 oz boneless and skinless chicken (breast or thighs, cut into strips or thin pieces)
1 can drained straw mushrooms
½ cup of cherry tomatoes
1 can coconut milk (I like Chaokoh brand)
1 can chicken broth
1 stalk lemongrass (cut into 3-inch lengths and pounded)
6 kaffir lime leaves (lightly bruised to release the flavor)
6 slices galangal
3 Thai chilis (lightly pounded)
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (I like this one)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
2 cilantro roots (or 2 inch cilantro stems – about 10)
You’ll want to start with your mise en place (prep). If you’re not too familiar with lemongrass, then check out this video here. Storing it is pretty straightforward, once you’ve cut off the root just chop it into thirds and you can store it in your freezer for ages.
With galangal, all you’ll need to do is slice it into about ¼ inch thick slices. Once you’ve sliced it, you can store it in your freezer. You won’t want to defrost it for use, you can just use it from frozen. If you absolutely cannot find galangal, you can substitute it with ginger. It won’t taste the same, but it is doable. I highly recommend going out of your way to find the real thing though. Even buying the frozen rounds from the freezer section of your Asian grocery store would be preferable.
As for your chilis and kaffir lime leaves, you can just store these whole in your freezer.
If you can find cilantro roots, give them a good rinse and you’re set. Cilantro stems can be used instead if the roots are unavailable. 10 stems, 2 inches long will do.
So, you’ve got your ingredients in front of you and hopefully you’ve checked out the link about lemongrass. If you haven’t already done so, pound the lemongrass a bit to bruise it and really release some of those flavors and aromatics. Go ahead and lightly pound the chilis now too. Now to bruise the kaffir leaves you just crumple them up a bit until it starts to release its herbaceous scent.
At this stage you have a choice: you can either throw the lemongrass, galangal, chilis, cilantro stems/roots, and kaffir lime leaves directly in the pot or you can put them all in a cheesecloth and tie it up, so that you don’t have any inedible pieces in your soup. In Thailand, they usually just leave all these aromatics in the pot and you just eat around them. This is the method I usually take but I find that to guests unfamiliar with this dish, they may find it more pleasant to have these removed. If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can simply scoop these bits out at the end.
So now that you have these ingredients in the pot, go ahead and add your chicken broth (or water) and bring to a boil.
Add the coconut milk and chicken and cook it on medium heat for a few minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Add the cherry tomatoes and strained canned mushrooms and cook for up to two minutes.
Add the sugar and fish sauce. I know fish sauce stinks but it is the key ingredient in most Thai dishes. It’s the flavor. Give it a shot! If you’re vegetarian, you can add Thai thin soy instead.
Turn off the heat and add lime juice.
Now give it a taste. Is it sweet enough? Too sour? Need more salt or umami? Adjust to taste. At this point you can also add a bit of Nam Prik Pao (Thai chili paste) if you want a kick.
Strain out inedible pieces if you want.
Top with cilantro before serving.
ทานให้อร่อยคะ (Enjoy your meal.)
With my love of all things design and food, it was only natural for me to start a blog. I want to share with others my adventures as I travel, eat, read, photograph, and discover my way through Sacramento. As a Realtor, it’s important to me to know what’s happening in my community. And why not share that with you?