Tom Kha Gai
A mellow coconut and galangal soup with chicken and mushrooms, sharp with lime and gently hot.
- Region
- Central Thailand
- Condiments
- Fish Sauce, Palm Sugar
- Vegetables
- Lemongrass, Galangal, Makrut Lime, Bird’s Eye Chilli, Thai Shallots, Coriander Leaves
- Fruits
- Coconut, Lime
Ingredients
- 400 g boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 300 ml chicken stock
- 10 thin slices galangal (about a 6 cm piece)
- 2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 5 cm lengths and bruised
- 5 makrut lime leaves, torn
- 3 small shallots, halved and lightly crushed
- 150 g oyster or straw mushrooms, torn
- 3–5 bird’s eye chillies, lightly crushed
- 2½ tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 3–4 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 small handful coriander leaves
- Chilli oil (nam man prik), to serve (optional)
Instructions
Kha means galangal, and this soup should taste clearly of it: peppery, piney and bright. It is a gentler cousin of tom yum, softened with coconut milk but still lifted with lime at the end.
Method
- Bring the coconut milk and stock to a gentle simmer in a pot. Add the galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves and shallots and simmer for 5 minutes to infuse.
- Add the chicken and simmer gently for 6–8 minutes, until cooked through.
- Add the mushrooms and crushed chillies and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, then turn off the heat.
- Stir in the lime juice. Taste: it should be creamy, salty and sour, with a clear galangal fragrance and a little heat. Adjust with more lime or fish sauce.
- Ladle into bowls, top with coriander and a drizzle of chilli oil if you like. Serve with jasmine rice.
Cook’s tips
- Keep it at a gentle simmer. Boiling coconut milk hard can make it split and turn oily.
- For a vegetarian version, use vegetable stock, tofu and extra mushrooms, and season with light soy sauce and salt.
Aroy Mak Mak
Aroy Mak Mak is a small team writing about the food of Thailand and its neighbours: recipes you can cook at home, guides to the ingredients behind them, and places worth travelling for. The name means "very delicious" in Thai. Every recipe on the site lists its ingredients, timings and method in full, explains the techniques that matter, and suggests substitutes for ingredients that are hard to find outside Thailand. The guides to regions, condiments, vegetables and fruits explain what things are, how they are used and how to buy and store them. Place pages are researched from current sources, including the latest Michelin Guide Thailand, official websites and maps, and give addresses, opening hours and what to order. Where a detail could not be confirmed, it is left out rather than guessed.