Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup

Name: Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup
Ingredients: 2 stalks lemon grass; 2 cups coconut milk; 5 kaffir lime leaves; 2 tablespoons sliced galangal; 1 cup water; 2 long red chillies, seeded and sliced; 3 green bird’s eye chillies, chopped; 4 tablespoons palm sugar; 4 tablespoons fish sauce; 3 tablespoons chilli paste; 200 g skinless chicken thigh fillet, sliced; ¼ cup straw mushrooms; ⅓ cup lime juice; 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Simply Asian

By Neil Perry

Published 2000

About

The classic tom ka gai is a truly marvellous, head-clearing soup, full of flavour and sting. It should be chilli-hot enough to really wake the senses. To make a great quick meal, toss some green prawns or other raw seafood into the soup, simmer for a few minutes and then spoon over a bowl of steamed rice.

Ingredients

2 stalks lemon grass
5 kaffir lime leaves
2 cups coconut

Soup
Spicy
Gluten-free

Method

Remove the tough outer layers of the lemon grass, cut into 2-cm lengths and crush with the flat of a knife. Crush the lime leaves in your hand to release the flavour.

Put the coconut milk and water into a medium-sized pot and bring to the boil. Add the galangal, lemon grass, lime leaves, chillies, sugar, fish sauce and chilli paste and cook for 8 minutes before turning down to a simmer.