Thom Kha Gai

Name: Thom Kha Gai
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 750 ml (26 fl oz/3 cups) coconut milk; 2 lemongrass stems, white part only, bruised; 5 cm (2 inch) piece galangal, cut into several pieces; 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) lime juice; 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn in half; 3–5 bird’s eye chillies, stems removed, bruised, or 2 long red chillies, seeded and thinly sliced; coriander (cilantro) leaves, to garnish; 4 red Asian shallots, crushed with the flat side of a knife; 1 tablespoon grated palm sugar (jaggery); 400 g (14 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced; 2 tablespoons fish sauce; 150 g (5½ oz) straw mushrooms or button mushrooms; 200 g (7 oz) cherry tomatoes, halved

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Cook's Book of Everything

By Lulu Grimes

Published 2009

About

This soup is one of the classic dishes of Thailand. It translates literally as ‘boiled galangal chicken’ — which doesn’t really do justice to its absolutely perfect blend of hot, sour, sweet and salty. You can make this with prawns or fish instead of chicken.

Ingredients

750 ml (26 fl oz/3 cups) coconut milk
2

Asia
Thailand
Main course
South East Asia
Gluten-free
Soup
Breakfast

Method

Put the coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal and shallots in a saucepan or wok over medium heat and bring to the boil.
Add the chicken, fish sauce and palm sugar and simmer, stirring constantly for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Add the tomatoes and mushrooms and simmer for 2–3 minutes. Add the lime juice, lime leaves a