My husband adores Thai food, so we often venture to local restaurants in search of a great Thai meal. We’ve found a few descent places, but none of them have really knocked our socks off. A few months ago I decided to teach myself some of the basics of Thai cuisine, so I could start cooking the dishes we love at home. I started with my husband’s favorite Thai dish, Tom Kha Gai—spicy coconut chicken soup.
Preparing Thai food can be challenging, because some of the ingredients are pretty exotic. I’m lucky to live close to a Thai neighborhood here in Los Angeles, but for those of you who don’t it can be tough getting hold of things like galangal and kaffir lime leaves. Kosher Thai cooking can present an even greater challenge; ingredients like red curry paste and fish sauce can be difficult to track down with a kosher hechsher. Red curry paste often contains shrimp, and fish sauce has anchovies, which presents a problem for some. Most Jews consider fish neutral, or pareve, but some kosher cooks will not mix fish with meat.
Because of these challenges, I decided to create my own Thai-style soup using everyday ingredients. I wanted to capture that delicious Thai flavor in a recipe that is accessible to everybody, whether or not you live close to an Asian market. The most exotic ingredient on the list is lemongrass, which is available in the produce section of most American grocery stores. If your market doesn’t carry fresh lemongrass, it will likely carry lemongrass paste near the fresh herbs or in the Asian food section. If you can’t track it down, don’t worry—the soup will taste good without it, too. But if you can find the lemongrass, I highly recommend it– the herb has a distinctive flavor that really enhances the dish.
This soup is rich, creamy, spicy, subtly sweet, and full of flavor. If you’ve never tasted Thai soup before, you’re in for a treat… it’s really unique! Adjust the spice by adding cayenne to taste (it’s really spicy, so add with care). If you’re sensitive to salt, use a low sodium chicken broth. Add soy sauce to taste for more saltiness. I like using light coconut milk in the broth to cut down on fat and calories; use regular, if you prefer. They both taste great.
To make this recipe gluten free, make sure your soy sauce and coconut milk are certified GF. Many soy sauces contain gluten, but a few are GF certified– check the celiac forums online for recommended brands.
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Thai-Style Coconut Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 pound chicken breasts, sliced into thin 2-inch strips
- 3 whole scallions, sliced into rings
- 2 stalks lemongrass, sliced into quarters (or 2 tbsp lemongrass paste)
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or more to taste) (for gluten free use a certified GF tamari sauce)
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
- 6 ounces fresh oyster and/or shitake mushrooms, sliced
- 28 ounces light coconut milk (2 cans)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated lime zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
NOTES
Instructions
- Pour chicken stock in a large soup pot. Add the sliced chicken breast meat, sliced scallions, quartered lemon grass stalks (or paste), grated ginger, soy sauce, and cayenne pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the sliced mushrooms to the pot and stir.
- Turn the heat to low. Shake the cans of coconut milk briskly before opening. Pour them into the soup and stir to blend. Stir in the sugar and lime zest.Slowly increase the heat, stirring constantly, till the soup reaches a slow simmer. Keep the soup at a slow simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often; do not let it boil too briskly.
- After 15 minutes, turn off the heat. Stir in the fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro. Remove the lemon grass stalks with a slotted spoon. Taste the soup; add more cayenne pepper and/or soy sauce to taste.
- Serve hot. Can be poured over steamed white or brown basmati rice for a more filling meal-- doing this stretches the recipe to 8 servings or more.
Nutrition
Thank you very much. I am so excited.
Hi Torey,
I’ve been making your Autumn Sweet Potato Soup for several years. It is a winter staple and I take it to Soup Day at my Weaving Guild. I would like to make this soup but cannot eat mushrooms. Do you or one of your readers have a suggestion for a substitute vegetable(s). thought of some Tofu but I think it needs more than that. Thanks so much!
Hmmm, good question. Tofu is a good idea. Or maybe some peeled cubed eggplant? If using eggplant be sure to salt it in a colander to remove any bitterness, then rinse before adding. Add it at the same time you would the mushrooms – you won’t want to overcook the cubed eggplant or the soup will become mushy. By the way, I haven’t tried it– just trying to imagine the flavor profile and I think it would probably be nice. Fingers crossed!
I just made this soup for my new husband and he really enjoyed it. He can only eat poultry so we needed a recipe without shrimp flakes or fish sauce AND he is a celiac. I followed this recipe but bought three stocks of lemon grass instead of two – and my husband said it tastes very lemony! So maybe next time I will use two stalks. It is a great recipe, tastes very very close to a Thai soup and was so easy. We will incorporate this into the permanent rotation!!
Fabulous Susan! This is one of our favorites. 🙂
Oh my goodness! This soup was absolutely delicious and not hard to make. I love that I could buy all the ingredients at my local supermarket. This soup, served over brown rice, will go on our regular rotation from now on!
So glad you tried it and enjoyed it Lori!
My husband and I, too, love Thai food. We try to find a new Thai recipe every week. Last week Kai (chicken) Tom Kurmin was our challenge. This soup is our next!
Is the tablespoon of sugar essential? Is there anything else I could substitute?