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It came from a Thai restaurant in my hometown of Hanover, MA. I think I was in high school at the time and definitely well over ten years ago. Food memories are some of the best.
I raved about this soup so much that the owner, who was super friendly, brought out the recipe for me to copy down! It was scrawled on the only scrap paper available: an advertisement for a newly opened nail salon.
I never got around to making this recipe until now...
It is so easy to buy this soup at any Thai restaurant. Now that I know how easy it is to make it (despite the coconut part, in which case you can use canned), I am all over it!
There are also many Asian markets around here that sell the "exotic" ingredients. Truthfully, you can go without them (except for the lemongrass). Also buy some quality fish sauce (which is, mmm, fermented anchovies).
My little man was desperate to open and drink from a coconut. That's how this all started. Sure enough, I bought one and did my internet search on how to handle it. You can use canned but after reading about all the health benefits of fresh, try it if you have a food processor or blender and a sieve!
Coconut Processing:
Of the three divots on the bottom, one of them is soft enough to pierce with a knife and drain the water. We both drank it and found it delicious (way better than the prepackaged stuff). The next challenge is cracking the nut open. I hammered away using a knife but any hammer would be fine.
The annoying part is scraping the meat out. I used a knife which was easier on smaller pieces but I also learned there are special curved coconut knives.
Make sure to exclude the outer bark and rinse the meat to exclude it. As you cut the meat off, put it in a food processor or blender. Process the meat for a minute. Pour in 1/2 cup boiling water and process another minute. Allow to sit for a bit. Come back to it and add 1 cup boiling water and process for 5 minutes. Strain into a 2-cup measure (or bowl) via a sieve (preferably lined with 2 layers of cheese cloth). Squeeze the coconut to release as much juice as possible. Refrigerate until using, up to 1 week. My coconut yielded 2 cups of milk.
Tom Kha Gai (chicken coconut soup)
1 cup chicken stock
2 stems lemongrass, outer leaves removed and sliced lengthwise in half
2" galangal (or ginger root), peeled and sliced
3 kaffir lime leaves, torn into small pieces (don't stress it if you can't find them, use more lime juice)
1/2 lb chicken cut into thin 1 x 1/2" strips and cooked
4 oz mushrooms (traditional is straw but any small fresh mushrooms are fine)
3 Tb lime juice
2 Tb fish sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
2 c. coconut milk (preferably homemade for maximum health benefits)
4 red bird's-eye chilis, bruised (or reduce to taste and/or use other hot pepper)
cilantro leaves to garnish (optional)
Pound chicken into very thin cutlets. I used tenders. Season with salt and pepper and cook in a skillet over medium high, until done. If using tenders, remove the tough tendon when cutting up.
Pour chicken stock in pot, add lemongrass, galangal or ginger, and kaffir leaves. Bring to boil over medium heat.
Add chicken, mushrooms, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar.
Simmer slowly, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Add coconut milk and chilis. Bring almost to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove the lemongrass and ginger. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve. Beware, the chilis are HOT!
