Tom Kha Kai Soup

Broth

1. The base of tom kha kai is chicken broth. If you like, you can make the broth from a whole chicken or any parts of the carcass. We decided to make a rich soup with coconut milk, using a broth made from wings. They are an affordable product, sold even unfrozen. You can also always buy a pack of wings or buy them by the piece, based on the number of wings per bowl of soup.

2. Prepare the wings: be sure to remove any remaining feathers and wash them thoroughly.

   

3. Put the chicken wings in a pot, cover with 1.5 l of cold water and put the pot on high heat. While the water heats up, prepare all the vegetables and spices for the soup.

4. Prepare the vegetables and spices. If you have galangal, which is preferable, peel a large piece of the root and slice it into plates. If you use ginger, you need half as much; it gives the soup an overly distinctive flavor, and you will need to adjust the acidity of the dish.

   Cut the green onions into several large pieces; they are discarded after the broth is cooked. Peel the garlic cloves and leave them whole. Remove the seeds from the hot pepper and cut it into several pieces. Cut the lemongrass into large pieces as well.

   Dried kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil are available in stores; it is better not to throw them straight into the broth, but to put them in a sachet bag or simply tie them up in a piece of clean cloth.

5. Cook the broth: add all the vegetables, the galangal or ginger and the bag of herbs to the pot. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cook for 35-40 minutes, until the wings are tender.

   

6. Remove the bag of herbs and all the vegetables from the finished broth (you can set aside the pieces of galangal and lemongrass for serving), move the wings to a bowl and cover with a saucer so they don’t dry out. You can strain the broth to remove any bits of vegetables and chicken.

Soup with coconut milk

1. Put the pot of broth on medium heat and pour in the coconut milk. Use canned coconut milk, sold in 400 ml cans; gently stir it with a spoon before pouring. Add 1 tbsp of fish sauce and the juice of a quarter of a lime.

   

2. Season the soup with a pinch of salt and taste for acidity. Coconut soup tom kha kai should be distinctly sour. If you cooked with galangal, it will provide the necessary tang. For a soup made with ginger, add extra lime juice.

3. Cook the mushrooms. In Asia, shiitake and other local varieties are used, which can be bought in any store or market. Here you can buy excellent oyster mushrooms, young and firm. In my taste they suit the soup best. If the oyster mushrooms are not very large, you can leave them whole and just cut off the thick stem; cut larger ones coarsely.

   

   Bring the soup almost to a boil, add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes.

4. Add the chicken wings to the soup and cook over low heat for 5-7 minutes, without letting the soup boil hard. If you like, you can add a little curry paste. After that the tom kha kai is practically ready. All that is left is to add heat to taste: with ground chili, or when serving with small pods of fresh Thai pepper, regular chili cut into rings, and so on.

Serving

1. Divide the mushrooms and chicken wings equally between deep bowls and pour the coconut soup over them. When serving, the galangal and lemongrass cooked in the soup are often added to the bowls, but they are not eaten: the pieces are usually placed on top as decoration, along with a sprig of Thai basil or mint and pods or pieces of hot pepper. Sometimes cilantro is added when serving.

   

2. Serve the soup hot, with lime wedges so everyone can adjust the acidity themselves.

   In Asia tom kha kai is served with boiled rice and used as a sauce. In general, the way of serving resembles a curry: rice and a spicy sauce with meat, chicken (curry with rice) or vegetables.