Sopa’s Tom Kha Gai is much more creamy than you will usually find here in Thailand, but it is absolutely delightful. To really appreciate this dish, take it as a soup, rather than eating it the Thai way of ladling it all over rice. The source was an Isaan maid called Sopa who had adapted her mother’s recipe.
Ingredients | Serves 4 |
Sliced chicken breast fillet | 500 gm |
Lobo Tom Kha paste | 1 packet |
(available supermarkets) | |
Coconut milk, canned | 600 ml |
Lemongrass cut into 1 cm pieces | 1 small stick |
Lemon or lime juice | 10 ml |
Chili (chopped, no seeds) | 2 medium |
Fish sauce (Tiparos is good) | 50 ml |
Sugar | 3 tspns |
Kaffir lime leaves | 1 |
Water | 1 cup |
Straw mushrooms (whole, canned) | 50 gm |
Coriander (fresh, shredded) | 1 tbspn |
Cooking Method
Put coconut milk and Tom Kha paste into a pot and bring to the boil. Add chicken breast pieces and bring to the boil again over a medium heat.
Add the rest of the ingredients, other than the coriander, and boil for another two minutes over medium heat.
This can be served immediately, if in a hurry, or allowed to simmer for a while to enhance the spiciness.
Sprinkle the coriander over the soup just before serving.