Easy Tom Kha Thai Coconut Soup

melewen's Note:

I know, I know, it's not authentic and it doesn't contain all the ingredients in the Thai name. But for poor, deprived college-town students like me, this is pretty close to what you can find at Thai restaurants. I'll eat it for dinner with some Thai tea (though I'm usually too lazy to make it), though it's not traditionally meant to be served as its own course. You could substitute shrimp or tofu for the chicken, just skip the velveting preparation. I velvet the chicken so it doesn't get tough in the soup, but you don't have to. If you don't, just sauté the chicken in some oil until it turns white and then cook it until it's done in the simmering soup.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

For chicken

• 1 chicken breast, cut into strips
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons oil

Soup

• 2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 cups sliced white mushrooms
• 3 stalks green onions
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons gingerroot, minced (fresh or bottled. You can even use powdered in a pinch)
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon red chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zest of

Directions:

1. To velvet chicken: Lightly beat egg white and combine with cornstarch. Toss the chicken strips or cubes in this mixture, then cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the water and oil in a pot or a wok, until it's hot enough that a piece of chicken floats to the top when you put it inches Put the chicken in, in shifts if you have to to keep it from crowding, and cook until it's white, about 30 seconds. If you're not using the chicken straight away, refrigerate it until you do.
3. To prepare the soup: Heat coconut milk and chicken broth to boiling.
4. Turn down heat, add fish sauce, chili sauce, ginger, lemon and lime juices, and lemon zest, chicken, and mushrooms and simmer for a couple minutes.
5. Add chopped green onions and chopped cilantro and serve.

Reviews

[Lazarus]

Wonderful! This soup was easy to make and tasted delicious! All the ingredients were easy to find. The one thing that surprised me was the amount of heat. It was perfect for my taste, but the rest of the family had some trouble. I used 2 tsp Sriracha HOT sauce, so that may have been where things went wrong. The flavour was perfect, though, so next time (oh, there will be a next time), I'll back off the heat. Thanks so much for sharing, melewen! Made for PAC Spring 2012.

[BettySchlueter]

I just made this soup using just what I had already and it was perfect. Fresh lime and lemon from our trees made the recipe perfect. Thank you!