Ben got sick again. š Ā He was hoarse and completely congested and miserable, and he had no appetite and was bored with your normal chicken soup. Ā I decided to be adventurous and make Tom Kha Gai (Thai chicken coconut soup). Ā It turned out to be surprisingly easy and delicious and curative all at the same time. Ā I read a few Tom Kha Gai recipes, and found out that Kha in the name denotes galangal and Gai chicken. Ā This soup utilizes the basic essential ingredients of Thai food, and turns out to be an excellent introduction to Thai cooking. Ā The ingredients are:
Ingredients
- Fish sauce (nam pla)
- Coconut milk
- Kaffir lime leaf
- Galangal
- Lemongrass
- Palm sugar
- Birdās eye chilies
- Cilantro (coriander)
- Lime
I went to WholeFoods and Garden of Eden to look for these ingredients, but I could only find lemongrass and lime. Ā So I once again searched internet for appropriate substitutes and found out that galangal can be substituted with ginger and a bit of lemon, and instead of Bird’s eye chilies, I bought a mixture of small Mexican green and red chilies. Ā Thankfully I already had a bottle of nam pla and a can of coconut milk on hand. Ā I simply had to give up on Kaffir lime leaf, and I was not exactly sure what flavor would be missing since I have never used this before.
The soup itself is very simple. Ā The soup base is made by combining chicken stock (14 oz.), galangal (2″ long; same amount of ginger with a splash of lemon), 2 chilies slice, sugar (1 tbs), lemongrass (2 stalks, white parts only), nam pla (4 tbs) and lime juice (from 4 limes) in a pot and boiling. Ā Once the liquid is boiling (taste and adjust seasoning, more lime, more nam pla, etc), thinly sliced chicken and coconut milk (1 can) are added and cooked for about 2 minutes, and the soup is finished. Ā Of course, I vary the recipe a bit and added a few shrimps, mushroom and bok choy. Ā The soup is finished with some cilantro. Ā It wasĀ surprisinglyĀ similar to Tom Kha Gai that I have had in Thai restaurants, and it really helped Ben’s sinus.