Tom Kha Kai - Chicken Galangal Soup

Author: Anita Jacobson

Categories: Soup

Cuisines: Thai

Ingredients: Chicken

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4 cups coconut milk
• 2 cups water/chicken stock
• 4 lemongrass (Indonesian: sereh), bruised and knotted
• 1 inch galangal (Indonesian: lengkuas), bruised
• 10 kaffir lime leaves (Indonesian: daun jeruk)
• 400 gram boneless skinless chicken breast (Indonesian: dada ayam), cut into strips
• 250 gram young corn cobs (Indonesian: jagung muda), half each
• 250 gram white button mushrooms (Indonesian: jamur kancing), quarter each
• 4 tablespoon lime juice (Indonesian: air jeruk nipis)
• 3 tablespoon fish sauce (Indonesian: kecap ikan)
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Garnish
• 2 scallions (Indonesian: daun bawang), thinly sliced
• 1 bunch coriander leaves (Indonesian: daun ketumbar), thinly sliced
• 4 red cayenne chilies (Indonesian: cabe merah keriting), seeded and thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Place coconut milk, water/chicken stock, lemongrass, galangal, and 5 kaffir lime leaves into a soup pot and bring to a boil over medium heat (high heat has a tendency to curdle the coconut milk and we want to avoid that). Reduce heat to a bare simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the soup is fragrant.
2. Add chicken breast, corn cobs, and mushrooms. Continue cooking gently until the chicken is cooked, about 5 to 8 minutes.
3. Pour the lime juice, fish sauce, and season with salt and sugar, then add the remaining 5 kaffir lime leaves.
4. Turn off heat. Laddle the soup into serving bowls, and serve hot garnished with sliced scallions, coriander leaves, and red chilies.