Tom Kha Gai Thai Chicken Ginger Soup With Coconut Milk Food

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.

TOM KHA GAI (THAI CHICKEN GINGER SOUP WITH COCONUT MILK)

Steps:

• 1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium in a 4-5 qt stock pot or dutch oven until shimmering. Add onions, mushrooms and bok choy, and saute until onions are soft, mushrooms have begun to release their liquids, and the bok chok leaves are bright green (about 5 minutes).
• 2. Scoot the veggies to the side of the pot and pour in the remaining oil in the cleared space. Sprinkle the curry paste and curry spice over the oil and let simmer for 15 seconds to bloom the spices. Add the lemongrass pieces, ginger and Bird's Eye chilies to the spice oil, and stir to create a paste. The paste should be very loose and wet - if not, mix in a bit of the broth.
• 3. Increase heat to medium-high. Add one cup of broth to the pot and stir all ingredients together. Pour in the remaining broth and both cans of coconut milk. Bring the soup to a low boil.
• 4. When soup is bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low and add the lime leaves, chicken and fish (or soy) sauce. Keep the soup at a gentle simmer - the liquids should bubble but not sputter - 10 to 12 minutes or until chicken/meat substitute is cooked.
• 5. Squeeze both limes over the soup and stir in the quinoa (if using). Turn heat to low and allow soup to rest for 5 minutes. Taste, and add salt, if necessary. Remove and discard the lime leaves and lemongrass stalks (the leaves will be easy to find as they tend to float to the surface; the lemongrass stalks might be more of a challenge. They're not dangerous to eat, but it's an unpleasant gnawing experience - it's best to either remove them or warn your guests of their presence). Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with scallions and cilantro.
• Notes:
• Quinoa is not a traditional ingredient in Tom Kha Gai, but I do love the extra body it gives the soup, along with the added healthy protein. When preparing quinoa specifically for this dish (as opposed to using leftover quinoa), I like to add a couple of drops of toasted sesame seed oil to the quinoa cooking water to give the quinoa a subtle, smoky richness.
• Vegan - this dish is easily made vegan by using chicken meat substitute (or additional mushrooms) and soy sauce, as indicated. Thai curry paste is (in my experience) usually vegan, but do read the labels before purchase.
• Gluten-free - this dish is gluten-free. No alterations need to be made, but do double-check your fish sauce/soy sauce and Thai curry paste. The brands I regularly use are naturally gluten-free, but please read your labels.

TOM KHA GAI, THAI COCONUT CHICKEN SOUP!

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste and stir and cook in the heated oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the mixture, stirring continually. Add the lime leaves and chillies and simmer gently for 10 minutes to infuse the broth.
• After 10 minutes, 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 tender, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook until no longer translucent, about 2-5 minutes. Watch carefully, do not overcook. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, drizzle with a little chilli oil and/or garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

THAI COCONUT GINGER SOUP OR TOM KHA GAI

Steps:

• Combine coconut milk, water, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, ginger and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
• Add chile paste, stock, mushrooms and chicken, simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove lemongrass and ginger before serving and garnish with cilantro.

THAI GALANGAL CHICKEN SOUP ( TOM KA GAI)

Steps:

• Cut the lemongrass into 5 cm pieces and pound the pieces with the side of your kitchen knife to bruise them. This helps to release the flavour into the soup.
• Using a large saucepan- combine the stock, lemongrass pieces, galangal, whole lime leaves and coriander (cilantro) roots and stems mixture. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat. Simmer covered for 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
• Strain the stock through muslin or a fine strainer into a large heatproof bowl. Discard the solids.
• Rinse your saucepan.
• Return your stock/soup base to the same saucepan.
• Add chicken and straw mushrooms. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
• Stir in the coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce and the sugar. Cook, stirring, until only just heated through. Do not boil. Remove from heat.
• Add the remaining ingredients- coriander (cilantro) leaves, red chillies, kaffir lime leaves and the lemon grass slices.
• Serve hot.

TOM KA GAI (SPICY CHICKEN SOUP W/ COCONUT MILK)

Steps:

• Place the chicken stock (or broth) in a stockpot, add lemon grass, ginger and lime leaves. I recommend slicing the lime leaves along the veins almost to the midrib to allow for more flavor release. These kaffir lime leaves are used in the same fashion we season soups with bay leaves. Bring the broth to a slow boil over medium heat.
• Add sliced chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts, salt, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar, reserving more lime juice and fish sauce to add later to taste.
• Cook slowly, uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes, then add coconut milk, cilantro, green onion, tomato, fresh coconut meat, bruised chilies, and red curry paste. Stirring frequently, bring almost to a boil, then remove from heat and serve if you are happy with the flavor of lime juice to fish sauce in conjunction with the other ingredients. Cook this soup gently to prevent the coconut milk from separating.

TOM KHA GAI (CHICKEN GALANGAL SOUP)

Steps:

• 1. Pour 1 of the 2 two cans of Coconut milk and the Chicken broth into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
• 2. Add Galangal root, Lemongrass, and Chili peppers simmer for 10 minutes.
• 3. Add Chicken pieces to pot and simmer until the color looks uniform brown about 3 minutes.
• 4. Add Straw mushrooms, Kaffir Lime leaves, Coconut Palm sugar, and Fish sauce. Simmer 5 minutes.
• 5. Add final can of Coconut milk. return to boil and remove pan from heat.
• 6. Add Lime juice stir and serve.