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Just eat – the enjoyment column
Pot cinema: With the coconut milk soup Tom Kha Gai, wanderlust for Thailand is guaranteed
Instead of chicken, shrimp (Tom Kha Kung) or mushrooms (Tom Kha Het) are also tasty in Tom Kha Gai.
© Wolfgang Schardt; Maria Grossmann (styling); Roland Geiselmann (food styling)
When our columnist mixes spicy coconut milk soup from Thailand, she goes on a long-distance journey inside. You can do the same with her recipe for Tom Kha Gai.
My regular readers know: I am easily inspired by Thai cuisine. Hot, sour, sweet and salty melt into a harmonious whole in every dish. I particularly liked the creamy coconut soup Tom Kha Gai, which develops its complex aroma with galangal and ginger. A single spoonful is enough and I can see the lively hustle and bustle around the bubbling pots of the street kitchens in Thailand – a bittersweet feeling of longing is guaranteed.
Ingredients
For the broth:
- 2 chicken legs, 250 g each
- 1 carrot
- 1 leek
- 2 shiitake mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 slices of ginger
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 2 cloves
- 1 cm ginger
- 1 cm galangal
- 200g shiitake mushrooms
- 1 pepper
- ½ zucchini
- 100-150g pak choy
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1-2 tbsp red curry paste (depending on spiciness)
- 1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
- 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 100 g glass noodles
- Juice of 1 organic lime
- Leaves of 4 stalks of coriander
preparation
- First make the chicken broth. To do this, wash the chicken legs and pat dry, cut the carrot, leek and mushrooms into coarse pieces.
- Halve the onion and garlic clove with the peel on. Put everything in a pot with spices and bring to the boil with 2 liters of water. If foam rises, skim off. Do not put a lid on the pot so the broth stays clear. Let simmer for about 40 minutes.
- In the meantime, grate the galangal and ginger. Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat coconut oil in a pot and fry the curry paste for about 3 minutes. Add vegetables and fry briefly.
- Remove the chicken leg from the broth. Allow to cool briefly and pluck off the meat. Add to vegetables.
- Pour the broth through a fine sieve and collect in a tall container. Then pour over the vegetables. Add the coconut milk. Season with tamari or soy sauce and sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the glass noodles to the pot and let them soften. This takes about two minutes. Season with lime juice and garnish with coriander. Serve hot immediately.