Today's Recipe: Thai Chicken Coconut Soup

[shel]

CHICKEN COCONUT SOUP (Tome Kha Gai)

2 stalks fresh lemon grass
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
2 Tbs fish sauce (nam pla)
2 scallions (white and green parts, trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise)
6 fresh or frozen Thai kaffir lime leaves
10 - 12 slices galangi or ginger
8 - 10 fresh hot Thai red and green peppers stemmed and lightly pressed
2 Tbs coarsly chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 boneless chicken breast, sliced or in bite sized chunks
1/4 lb (1 cup) white mushrooms, stemmed, thin slice
14-oz can unsweetened coconut milk
14-oz chicken broth or 1 3/4 cups water

Trim tops and bottoms of lemon grass, smash grass to release flavor, cut into 2-inch lengths Combine lime juice, fish sauce, scallions, ½ lime leaves in a bowl. Place all other ingredients, remaining lime leaves, and chicken nearby. Combine coconut milk and broth, bring to gentle boil over med-high heat. Add galangal, lemon grass, and lime leaves. Add chicken and mushrooms. Return to gentle boil, reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, pour hot soup over the seasonings in serving bowl, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, serve hot. Add chiles per taste to individual bowls.

[akila001]

Can you add rice or chinese noodles?

[phatch]

Of course you can. But then it's not Tom Kha Gai. I wouldn't as the broth in this soup is probably it's best feature. The other ingredients are good, but its the flavor carried by the broth that makes it great. Rice or noodles will cloud that flavor with released starch and IMO impair the texture.

Phil

[CapeCodder]

Originally Posted by akila001

Can you add rice or chinese noodles?

I make this soup every two weeks or so. It is so typical of Thai cooking in that each taste has such a wide varity of flavors. The heat of the pppers, the acidity if the lime, the mellowness of coconut milk and the depth added by the fish sauce.

We call it Thai "trash" soup because we do not strain the soup before serving. In fact,w e share a "trash" plate to put the pieces of galanga, lemongrass, etc.

Adding rice or noodles would make it very difficult to eat. If you strained the soup before serving, obviously one could add rice or noodles, but IMHO they would very much take away from the luxurious feel of this soup in your mouth.

[egeefay]

Here's a video showing how to make Kai Tom Khaa
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaif...-TomKhaGuy.htm