Chicken & Coconut Milk Soup (Gaeng Com Yam Gai)
Submitted by pookas
Thai chicken coconut soup simmers bone-in chicken in lemongrass and galangal-infused coconut milk, finished with lime, fish sauce, cilantro, and chili. A Tom Kha Gai classic ready in 30 minutes.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
30 minREADY
1 hrsThis is the Tom Kha Gai (or Tom Yum Gai depending on whose auntie you ask) that every Thai restaurant has somewhere on the menu, but it’s so much better when you make it at home with real galangal and fresh lemongrass. The soup is creamy without being heavy, sour without being sharp, and the heat from fresh Serrano chilies comes through clean instead of muddied.
The trick with coconut milk soups is to never cover them. Covered coconut milk curdles into white specks that ruin the silkiness. Simmer uncovered and gently, and the coconut milk stays glossy and unified all the way through.
Galangal is the root that gives this soup its soul. Unlike ginger, galangal carries a pine-citrus note that Thai cooking relies on. Dried Laos powder is a decent substitute and retains most of its character, but if you can find fresh galangal at an Asian market, use it.
The lime juice and fish sauce go in off the heat at the end. Cooking fish sauce destroys the bright funk that makes Thai food taste Thai, and cooking lime juice turns the citrus bitter.
Chef Tips
- Bruise the lemongrass stalks before adding. Flat-of-knife smashes release the oils trapped in the fibers.
- Use bone-in chicken pieces as the recipe suggests. Bones add depth to the broth you can’t fake with boneless breasts.
- Keep the soup at a gentle simmer. Rolling boils break the coconut milk emulsion.
- Add lime and fish sauce last, off the heat. Cooking them dulls their impact.
Variations
- Substitute thin strips of beef or firm white fish as the recipe notes. Adjust cook time to 5 to 8 minutes for either.
- Add sliced mushrooms (straw or oyster) in the last 5 minutes for added texture.
- Finish with Thai basil or kaffir lime leaves for extra fragrant lift.
Ingredients
Directions
Here’s another classic “Tom Yam” type chicken soup.
The “Laos” powder is dried galangal, powdered.
Unlike ginger, dried galangal seems to retain most of it’s character.
If you use canned coconut milk, the “Thin” milk is the more watery liquid in the can.
The thick condensed stuff is coconut “cream” (not to be confused with the syrupy sweet coconut cream used for Pina Coladas).
If you shake the can up and combine the two, you have thick coconut milk.
A lovely lemony, creamy soup, Dom Yam Gai calls for chicken pieces cut through the bone with a heavy cleaver, Chinese style.
If you find gnawing on chicken pieces and delicately trying to remove the bone, vainly searching for a place to deposit it, inhibiting your dinner conversation, you may debone the bird and substitute chicken pieces.
In either case, use both dark and light meats for color and nutrition.
[Although if you’re talking at the table, ya got no reason to be eating a dish this good! S.]
In a saucepan, bring the “Thin” coconut milk to a boil. Add the chicken pieces, lemon grass and Laos powder.
Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 15 minutes.
Do not cover as this will tend to curdle coconut milk.
When the chicken is tender, add the green onions, coriander leaves and chillies.
Bring the heat up just below boiling.
Remove the pan from heat, stir in lime juice, fish sauce and serve.
NOTE: Beef cut into thin strips or firm white fish pieces may be substituted for chicken.
Comments
