Thai Chicken Coconut Soup Food

THAI CHICKEN AND COCONUT MILK SOUP

Steps:

• Place the chicken stock in a heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Add the lime peel, lemon peel, ginger root, green chiles, and the cilantro stems and roots. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until reduced to 3 cups. Press occasionally on the solids with a wooden spoon to release flavor. Working with a sharp knife, cut the chicken breasts into broad slices, as thin as possible. Salt lightly, and reserve in refrigerator. When broth is reduced, strain into a measuring cup. Press on the solids in the strainer with a wooden spoon. Place the coconut milk in the soup pot over medium heat. Slowly stir in the reduced broth. Warm rapidly but do not allow to boil (otherwise the coconut milk will separate). When the soup is just below the boiling point, add the chicken slices. Remove from heat after 30 seconds (or when the chicken is just cooked through). Just before serving, mix together the lime juice and sugar in a small bowl. Blend in the fish sauce. Pour mixture into hot soup, season to taste and garnish soup with a little bit of chopped scallion and cilantro leaves. Yield: 6 first-course servings.
• Optional step: If your soup has curdled a bit, or if you'd like a fluffier texture in the soup, before you add the chicken, place the soup in a blender at high speed for 30 seconds. Then return to pot, add chicken and proceed as before. As an appetizer: Looks lovely served individually in six wide, shallow soup bowls. Great starter for many kinds of meals, not just Thai. As a main course: By doubling the amount of chicken and keeping the same amount of liquid, you convert this soup practically into a stew. The six wide, shallow bowls still work well; place a half-cup of steamed white rice to one side in each bowl, then divide the soup/stew among the bowls. Serve a tomato salad on the side that has been dressed with lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and topped with chopped peanuts and minced cilantro. If you can get the Thai ingredients: for the lime and lemon peel, substitute 3/8 cup Keffir lime leaves, 2 lemon grass stalks chopped, 3 thick slices dried galanga root.

THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• For the chicken stock: Place the chicken and vegetables in a large stockpot over medium heat. Pour in only enough cold water to cover (about 3 quarts); too much will make the broth taste weak. Toss in the thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns, and allow it to slowly come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, partially covered, until the chicken is done. As it cooks, skim any impurities that rise to the surface; add a little more water if necessary to keep the chicken covered while simmering.
• Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board. When its cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones; hand-shred the meat into a storage container.
• Carefully strain the stock through a fine sieve into another pot to remove the vegetable solids. Use the stock immediately or if you plan on storing it, place the pot in a sink full of ice water and stir to cool down the stock. Cover and refrigerate for up to one week or freeze. Makes: 2 quarts
• For the soup: Bring 4 cups of stock to a boil over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the lime leaves, chiles, garlic, ginger and lemongrass. Lower the heat to medium-low; cover the pot and gently simmer to let the spices infuse the broth, about 10 minutes.
• Uncover the pot and stir in the chicken, coconut milk, mushrooms, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Simmer to heat the chicken through, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into a soup tureen or individual serving bowls. Garnish with the cilantro. Be careful to avoid chewing the lemongrass, ginger or lime leaves.

THE BEST THAI COCONUT SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste in the heated oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the mixture, stirring continually. Stir in the fish sauce and brown sugar; simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and mushrooms; cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp; cook until no longer translucent about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice; season with salt; garnish with cilantro.

THAI CHICKEN-COCONUT SOUP

Steps:

• Place noodles in a bowl; add enough warm water to cover and let sit until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain. Combine broth, pepper, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, lime zest, lemon juice and 3 tablespoon fish sauce in a medium saucepan. Season with salt. Bring to a simmer, add noodles and cook 3 minutes more. Using tongs, transfer noodles to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add mushrooms to broth; season with salt, if desired; simmer 3 minutes more. Add chicken and coconut milk and simmer, stirring, until chicken is just cooked, about 3 minutes. Stir in spinach until it begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Add chopped cilantro and season with remaining 1 tablespoon fish sauce. Using tongs, divide noodles among 4 bowls. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with sprigs of cilantro and slices of pepper.

THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP (NOODLE BOWL)

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove from heat, add noodles, and cover.
• Peel and discard tough outer leaves from lemongrass. Roughly chop pale inner stalk and transfer to a food processor; pulse until minced, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Bring chicken broth to a boil in another large pot. Add lemongrass, chicken, mushrooms, red chile pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in coconut milk, ginger, fish sauce, and garlic. Simmer soup gently until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the chicken reads at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), 10 to 15 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to a cutting board; slice thinly and return to the pot. Stir in lime juice and sugar.
• Drain noodles and divide among serving bowls. Ladle soup on top. Garnish with a lime wedge, green onions, and basil.

THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP (TOM KHA GAI)

Steps:

• Bring chicken stock or water to the boil, add galangal, lemon grass, kafir lime leaves, coriander stalks and boil for 5 minutes until fragrant.
• Add chicken breast to the soup, boil for another 5 minutes until cooked.
• Add a pinch of sugar, coconut milk, chillis, cherry tomatoes and mushroom. Bring the soup to the boil again.
• Take off the heat. Season with lime juice and fish sauce. Add coriander leaves and spring onions.

TOM KA KAI (THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP)

Steps:

• In the bottom of a large soup pot, heat the oil over high heat until very hot but not smoking. I often make this is a wok on the stove.
• Salt the chicken and add to oil, tossing to brown all the pieces. Cook about 3 minutes or until outside is browned, but not necessarily cooked all the way through.
• Add mushrooms and toss. Allow to cook until some of the moisture is cooked out and the mushrooms are soft. Turn down heat to medium-low.
• To prepare the lemongrass, slice and mince the lower portion and reserve the stalk to flavor the soup. You can use a food processor for this, or just mince it by hand. The woody upper portion of the stalk will be removed later, so don't chop it up, simply score it by making a few superficial cuts in it to allow it to flavor the soup.
• Add the whites of the onions, reserving the greens. Add the minced lower portion of the lemongrass, grated galangal, and chilies. Toss until just warmed through.
• Add the lemongrass stalk, lime leaves, chicken stock, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar and remaining onions, reserving just a few for garnish. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend well.
• Taste test and adjust flavors as follows:.
• Not salty enough - add more fish sauce.
• Too sour - add a little more brown sugar.
• Too spicy - add more coconut milk.
• Not spicy enough - add more chilies.
• Ladle into 4 soup bowls and garnish with remaining onion greens, cilantro, and basil.
• Variations:.
• Add more vegetables such as some sliced red bell peppers with the mushrooms.
• Serve over wide rice noodles for a main dish serving.
• Make vegetarian by increasing mushrooms in place of chicken and substituting vegetable stock.