February 05, 2014
Recipe: Thai Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai)
The other day I found a recipe for Thai coconut soup that was incredibly simple and used only ingredients that most of us already have on hand or can easily be found at your local supermarket. Today turned out to be a rainy day which is perfect for soup making.
Not only is this soup extremely delicious and easy to make, but it also includes all kinds of good for you ingredients. The bone broth provides minerals and gelatin which is good for your bones and joints. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory and helps calm upset stomachs. Coconut milk is chalk full of medium chain fatty acids including lauric acid which the body converts to monolaurin which is both antiviral and an antibacterial. Finally, lemon provides additional antiviral and antibacterial properties along with aiding digestion.
How's that for one simple soup that takes about 20 minutes to make? This would be the perfect soup to make when everyone in your house starts coming down with that cold that's been going around.
The original recipe can be found here, and below is my version.
Ingredients
- 5 cups homemade chicken bone broth
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- Juice and zest from 2 lemons (I really like the freshness of lemon with coconut)
- Kosher salt to taste
- 1. 5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs diced up
- 1 -2 cups sliced mushrooms (any will work except shitake)
- 2 green onions chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Place broth, coconut milk, red pepper flakes, ginger, salt, and lemon zest/juice into a pot and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add chicken and mushrooms
- Cook over medium heat until chicken is cooked through
- Add cilantro and green onions just prior to serving