Thai Tom Kha Gai
Simple but delicious soup
Yesterday it snowed for the first time, so winter is just around the corner. But wintertime is always soup time, and as I had exchanged holiday memories of Thailand with a work colleague just before finishing work yesterday, I was in the mood to cook a Thai soup again last night.
I knew that there was a packet of fresh ingredients for a tom yam in the freezer, but if you leave out the tamarind, these are the same ingredients as for a tom kha gai. So all I had to do on the way home was get some meat, mushrooms and coconut milk. The soup was once again super tasty, I really make it far too rarely. And although it is something special for me, it was the very first dish I ate on my very first trip to Thailand in 2002.
Ingredients for 2-3 servings
- 200g chicken breast
- 5 large white mushrooms
- 3 Stems lemongrass
- 4 Thai chilis
- 8 kaffir lime leaves
- 3 shallots
- 1 piece galangal (ca. 5g)
- 1L chicken broth
- 600ml coconut milk
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 spring onions
- 3 stems coriander
- some chili strands as decoration (optional)
Zubereitung
As the soup is based on one litre of chicken stock, it should already be on the cooker and simmering gently. I used powder for the stock, but if you have real, cooked chicken stock, all the better of course. While the stock is simmering, prepare the spices . I had to defrost the frozen spices first. If you have really fresh ingredients to hand, this step is of course not necessary.
First cut off the top and bottom ends of the lemongrass and remove the outermost layer of leaves. Now cut the Thai chilis into thirds; if you like, you can also remove the seeds. Then fold the lime leaves along the stem and pull out the stem. Peel and quarter the shallots and cut the galangal into thin slices.
Then place the chilis in a mortar and roughly crush them. Then add the shallots, which are also crushed. Finally, add the lemongrass and the lime leaves, but only crush them lightly to release the flavour.
Now add all the ingredients from the mortar and the galangal to the stock and bring to the boil for a few minutes. Then reduce the heat again slightly, add the coconut milk and stir well. If it forms flakes, this is completely normal, in which case simply stir a little more. Finally, add the palm sugar, lime juice and soya sauce and leave the soup to simmer for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and cut the mushrooms into eighths. Add both to the soup and simmer until the meat is cooked. While waiting for the meat to cook, pluck the coriander leaves from the stalks and cut the firm part of the spring onion into diagonal sticks.
Divide the finished tom kha gai between bowls, garnish with coriander greens, spring onions and a few chilli threads and serve steaming hot.
