I am not a super big fan of coconut, but when I tried the Tom Kha Gai, I just fell in love with this soup. I have a very good Thai friend who lives here in Germany. She is an amazing chef and I enjoy her cooking a lot. There was one time when I visited her, she showed how to cook this easy and delicious dish! And that’s the way I like to learn how to cook foreign cuisine, not from a recipe book, not from youtube, but cook with someone from that country and learn how the locals do it.
I love Thai cuisine, but I always struggle with 1 problem: Thai cuisine uses a lot of fresh herbs like coriander, kaffir lime leaves, galangal…etc. When I buy these fresh herbs, I always have leftovers and not sure how to use them (and I also don’t want to eat the same meal for a week…) Therefore, I like to buy dried herb packs. They still make the food tastes good, but I don’t need to have too many fresh herbs in hand, to force myself to finish them or throw them away. Sometimes the dried herb packs come with some paste I can make the soup, but I like to do the rest of the seasoning on my own instead of using the paste.
To make a good Tom Kha Gai soup, other than the herbs, coconut milk, lime, and fish sauce is the key! So make sure you won’t leave out any of these. Usually, there’s chicken in the soup, but if you prefer a vegetarian version, tofu could be a good substitute (but you know it’s not gonna be the same!) It’s also common to have some mushroom in the soup. In Germany, it’s the easiest for me to get champignon, but you can also use straw mushroom, or oyster mushroom, these will also taste great with the soup. Another tip is to make sure the soup will not come to boil after you add the coconut milk! Coconut milk is very delicate, so you will need to put some extra care with it (but don’t afraid!).
This soup is so delicious and easy to make, and I definitely recommend you give it a try!
Tom Kha Gai - Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (Easy Version)
Ingredients
- 300 g Chicken
- 100 g Mushroom
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tomato
- 1 Lime
- 150 mL Coconut milk
- 2 tbsp Fish sauce
Thai herbs and spices
- 2 stalks Lemongrass cut it diagonally
- 1 Galangal about the size of a thumb, cut into slices
- 2 Bird Eye Chili
- 3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
- 2 Coriander Roots You can leave some coriander leaves at the end as a garnish
Instructions
- Boil 750mL water in a pot.
- Cut chicken, mushroom, tomato, and onion into cubes.
- When the water starts to boil, add the Thai herb and spices, and let it cook for 5 mins.
- Add the chicken and vegetables to the pot and cook for 5-10 mins, until it starts to boil.
- Make sure the water is not boiling, add the coconut milk, keep stirring gently. (Coconut milk is delicate, handle with care!)
- Add some fish sauce and lime juice. You can taste and adjust by adding more coconut milk/fish sauce/lime based on your liking. Once you reach the taste that you like, you are done, add some coriander on top if you like!