My husband and I looooove Tom Kah Gai. It is not too spicy, it tastes sour and sweet. I think we can have it everyday. I used to make it using a packed paste from a store in New Zealand, but I cannot find it here in Vancouver so I asked one of my friends from Thailand how to make Tom Kah Gai. She says don’t need paste, but the ingredients and freeze them! Now I have all I need in my freezer so that I can make this soup any time as long as I have the other ingredients easy to find any supermarket.
Go to an Asian supermarket and buy galangal, fresh lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. I put all in a ziploc bag and keep in a freezer.
Sometimes I add sliced red peppers. I also serve this soup with rice.
<Ingredients>
Lemongrass stalk- if it is large 1 stalk, if it is small, maybe 2-3. Crush a little bit and cut in 5-6 cm.
Galangal- slice in about 2mm, 10 slices
1-2 red chili peppers – crushed
3-4 shallots (or 1/2 onion)- cut in 1-2 cm
5 Kaffir lime leaves
450g of chicken thigh- cut in pieces
1 bunch of Shimeji mushrooms or oyster mushrooms
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of palm sugar
1 can of coconut milk
2 cups of chicken stock
1.5 -2 limes – to get 2 tablespoons of Lime juice
Coriander and green onion- chopped
<Instruction>
1. Heat a pot and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Saute chicken thigh to brown outside. Add shallots, lemongrass and galangal.
2. Add 2 cups of chicken stock and boil it to cook chicken inside.
3. Add 2 teaspoons of palm sugar and 2 table spoons of fish sauce.
4. Turn down the heat and add coconut milk. *Do not stir too much and do not boil after this step to avoid coconut milk separated.
5. Add mushrooms and chili peppers.
6. Turn off the heat and add lime juice.
7. Before you serve, garnish coriander and green onion.