Tom Kha is a Thai flavored soup. Traditional Tom Kha Gai soup recipe uses chicken and fish sauce. Galangal and kafir lime leaves are the main ingredients of the soup. Galangal is a root that looks similar to ginger. The flavors are slightly different. Galangal and Kafir lime leaves are not readily available in the pantry. Since I wanted to try this soup using easily available ingredients, I used Ginger and lime juice. You can still taste the authentic flavors in this soup.
This soup is a complete meal. Lemongrass stem and ginger contribute to the aromatic Thai flavors of the soup. The soup is sweet, sour, and slightly spicy.
Ingredients:
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Coconut Milk | 4-5 Cups |
| Water | 1½ Cups |
| Ginger slices | 5-6 Nos |
| Lemongrass stem cut in to pieces | 1 No |
| Tamarind pulp/concentrate | 1 Tbsp |
| Jaggery | 2Tbsp |
| Tomato cut into 4 pieces | 1 No |
| Onion sliced | ½ Cup |
| White mushrooms- Sliced | 1 Cup |
| Carrot-sliced | 1 No |
| Extra-firm Tofu cut into Cubes | ½Cup |
| Baby Corn canned or fresh | 1Cup |
| Basil Leaves | 2-3 |
| Coriander | ¼ Cup |
| Salt | ½Tsp |
| Thai chili paste/ tom yum paste | ½Tsp |
| Thai Red Chili | 1 No |
| Lime juice | 1tbsp |
Recipe:
- Add water to a sauce pan and bring it to boil
- Add ginger and lemon grass
- Cover and cook for 5-6min till the flavors are infused in the water
- Strain the water or remove ginger and lemongrass pieces
- Add carrots, tomatoes and onions to this strained water
- cook for a minute
- Add tamarind pulp or tamarind concentrate and tum yum paste
- Boil the mixture
- Add coconut milk and Jaggary
- Heat on medium flame and keep stirring continuously and remember not to boil
- Add mushrooms and tofu
- Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes
- Add baby corn, salt and crushed basil leaves
- Add a Thai chili
- Add lime juice if needed
- Garnish with lots of coriander
- Serve hot
Tips:
- Add lime zest to water along with Ginger and lemongrass
- If you are adding fresh baby corns, add them with mushrooms as fresh baby corn take more time for cooking that the canned baby corns
- If you do not have a Thai chilly paste or Tum yum paste add chilly garlic sauce or you can add 1 tsp of Thai red curry paste
- Remember to use lemongrass stem and not leaves
And It's Vegan Too! 