Tom kha Soup
Ingredients
-- take about a 1 inch piece of the galangal (from the ginger family), and chop that up into thin slices, or dice it
-- chop maybe 6 thin slices of the base of the lemongrass root
-- take about 6-10 lime leaves -- you don't really have to cut them up, but maybe mash them slightly to agitate them
-- slice about 1 small box worth of mushrooms (maybe 6 oz?) upto 15 large white mushrooms
-- cut about 1 or 2 lbs of chicken up into bite sized pieces
-- slice 1 to 3 small Thai chilies up, you can keep the seeds or not, depending on how spicy you want it (1 for mild, 2 for medium)
-- dice up a little bit or more of cilantro (from the parsley family) and spring onion, just for garnish
-- cut a lime in half
-- optionally 1 tsp honey
Directions:
in a small pot, add the 1 box of chicken broth, galangal, lemongrass, and lime leaves. Add some salt if the broth is low sodium. Bring it to a boil, and turn the heat down and let it all simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Then, take the small pot, and strain the broth into the large pot to make the actual soup (to discard the pieces of lemongrass/galangal/lime leaves).
put it on medium heat, add some coconut aminos or fish sauce, and add the chicken, mushrooms, and the Thai chili(es). Take the two cans of coconut milk, and in a bowl, stir in some curry paste, and pour the coconut/curry into the pot as well.
Stir it all, and keep it on the heat to cook the chicken, but don't put it on high heat -- you shouldn't have to bring everything to a fast boil.
Once the chicken has cooked through (become white) and the mushrooms seem cooked also (shouldn't take too long -- maybe 5-10 minutes, or a bit longer if the heat is too low) -- you can then add the spring onion, cilantro, and then squeeze the juice from half the lime into the soup and stir. You can throw the remaining lime peel into the pot for garnish if you want.
Also, you might taste the broth near the end to see if it's not salty enough, you might add the honey at the end too. I had to add some salt near the end.
-- take about a 1 inch piece of the galangal (from the ginger family), and chop that up into thin slices, or dice it
-- chop maybe 6 thin slices of the base of the lemongrass root
-- take about 6-10 lime leaves -- you don't really have to cut them up, but maybe mash them slightly to agitate them
-- slice about 1 small box worth of mushrooms (maybe 6 oz?) upto 15 large white mushrooms
-- cut about 1 or 2 lbs of chicken up into bite sized pieces
-- slice 1 to 3 small Thai chilies up, you can keep the seeds or not, depending on how spicy you want it (1 for mild, 2 for medium)
-- dice up a little bit or more of cilantro (from the parsley family) and spring onion, just for garnish
-- cut a lime in half
-- optionally 1 tsp honey
Directions:
in a small pot, add the 1 box of chicken broth, galangal, lemongrass, and lime leaves. Add some salt if the broth is low sodium. Bring it to a boil, and turn the heat down and let it all simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Then, take the small pot, and strain the broth into the large pot to make the actual soup (to discard the pieces of lemongrass/galangal/lime leaves).
put it on medium heat, add some coconut aminos or fish sauce, and add the chicken, mushrooms, and the Thai chili(es). Take the two cans of coconut milk, and in a bowl, stir in some curry paste, and pour the coconut/curry into the pot as well.
Stir it all, and keep it on the heat to cook the chicken, but don't put it on high heat -- you shouldn't have to bring everything to a fast boil.
Once the chicken has cooked through (become white) and the mushrooms seem cooked also (shouldn't take too long -- maybe 5-10 minutes, or a bit longer if the heat is too low) -- you can then add the spring onion, cilantro, and then squeeze the juice from half the lime into the soup and stir. You can throw the remaining lime peel into the pot for garnish if you want.
Also, you might taste the broth near the end to see if it's not salty enough, you might add the honey at the end too. I had to add some salt near the end.
