Tom kha gai
Chicken (gai) cooked (tom) with galangal (kha). Creamy, spicy, subtly sweet balanced with tangy lime juice.
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
Spice base
- 4 slices galangal (rehydrated if using dried)
- ¼ cup sliced lemongrass (lower portion of the stalk only)
- 2 pairs kaffir lime leaves ribs removed
- 2 shallots peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 bird's eye chili (use more for more heat)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro roots and stems
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar dissolved in a teaspoon of water to make a paste
Soup
- 4 cups chicken bone broth
- 6 chicken thigh fillets cut into thin slices
- 2 eryngii King oyster mushrooms, cut into thin slices
- 1 plump tomato diced
- 8 stalks scallions cut into two-inch lengths
- 1 whole stalk lemongrass tied into a knot
- fish sauce
- 2 cups coconut cream
To finish the dish
- ¼ cup lime juice
- cilantro
Instructions
Make the spice base
- Grind all the solid ingredients in the spice base list.
- Pour in the fish sauce and diluted coconut sugar slowly to make grinding easier. You don't need to make a paste. You just want to pound everything to small pieces.
Cook the soup
- Pour the chicken bone broth into a pot and add the spice base. Bring to the boil.
- Stir in the chicken, mushrooms, tomato, lemongrass, scallions and a tablespoon of fish sauce.
- When the broth starts to boil, lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut cream.
- Over medium heat and with the pot uncovered, continue cooking the soup over a gentle boil until the chicken and mushrooms are cooked through.
- Taste the soup. Add more fish sauce if too bland.
- Off the heat, stir in the lime juice.
- Taste and adjust the amount of fish sauce and lime juice, if needed.
Serve your tom kha gai
- Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with torn cilantro and serve.
