Tom Kha Soup

Its been a few months having posted. I started working full time which has kept me too busy with no time for cooking or blogging!

So recently, I got the opportunity to cook for a family dinner. They wanted to try the Thai food I make.

I was dying to cook something and this was for a group of 15 people so I was all geared up for this and somehow managed to cook it all despite a busy work schedule.

The menu in Thai was Tom Kha soup, Thai chilli cakes, Corn Cheese Balls (not Thai), Pad Thai Noodles, Thai Red Curry, Fragrant Rice. I also tried to make a panna cotta using china grass which turned out to be a dud because it just refused to set! Though the spiced peach sauce I made along was a hit!

Too much of Tom-yum and honestly its just a thai version of clear soup. So this time, the experimental bug in me wanted to try cooking something new. I have been to Thailand and while I was in bangkok, a dear local friend took me to a Thai vegetarian restaurant and made me taste a vegetarian Tom -Kha, the taste of which still lingers at the name! So I thought let me try this. Its predominant flavour is lemon grass & ginger with mild flavour of coconut milk. The lemony tangy bit will be appreciated on Indian palate!

And with the monsoon setting in, this soup will warm you up and keep the colds and flues at bay!

I went through a lot of recipes, mostly non-veg and finally came up with my own version of this recipe.

Traditionally, its made with chicken, shrimps or other thai seafood. Tom-kha mean chicken galangal. I was skeptical about the pieces of galangal being appreciated in the soup so instead I crushed them in the red curry paste. I tried to make it more textural and flavoursome in the vegetarian version.

I had to make it keeping the diet restrictions of my guests in mind. But my recipe will give you the authentic version of making it. You can then move around with your diet restrictions.

This is low calorie and low fat soup!! So all you guys on a diet can try too!!

So here we go:

Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures as I was too busy cooking and then serving! I'll update it when I make it again!

Serves: 4 Preparation Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste
1 cup of vegetables, diced (onions, green cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, babycorn)
2-3 tbsp of mushrooms, sliced (button, oyster, porcini, enoki)
½" galangal, sliced (optional)
½" ginger sliced
1 small tomato, diced
1 stalk lemon grass, diagonally sliced (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup coconut milk
¾ cup lemon grass extract*
2 cups vegetable stock or water
Salt as per taste
1 tbsp oil (optional)

 To be tied into a bouquet garni:
5-7 coriander stalks
4-5 basil leaves
2 lemon grass stalks
1 kaffir lime leaf (optional)

For Garnish:
3 tbsp of coriander, washed and chopped

Method (if using oil):

1. Heat oil, fry the Thai red curry paste till oil starts oozing from the sides. Then add all the veggies, mushroom, ginger, galangal and tomatoes. Sauté in the paste till all the vegetables are coated with it. This will take about 1 min of continuous sauteing.

2. Now add the coconut milk. Mix well.

3. Then, add the lemon grass extract and the vegetable stock. Add lemon grass stalks and salt as per taste.

4. Once this mixture is hot enough drop in the bouquet garni.

5. Let all the vegetables cook in this flavoured stock till tender and boil for 5 mins. Cover and cook.

6. Squeeze in some lemon juice and put it off heat.

7. Garnish with coriander. Serve hot.

Method ( without oil):

1. Heat the vegetable stock or water. bring it to a boil.

2. Add in the curry paste, coconut milk, lemon grass extract.Mix well.

3. Add in all the vegetables, ginger, galangal, mushrooms, tomatoes and lemon grass stalks. Season with salt and let it cook. Drop in the bouquet garni as well. Cover and cook.

4. It should be done in 10 mins, squeeze in the lemon juice and bring to a boil and its ready to serve!

Notes & Tips:

1. The curry paste is spicy so no other spices required. If you want it more spicy, add in another teaspoon of the paste and mix well.

2. My guests included kids, who were fussy about vegetables in soup. So after the soup was ready, I scooped out a handful of vegetables and blitzed the rest. I was very worried it will change the taste. But hey! it did not!! And it made it thicker... obviously!

But I would not recommend blitzing it as that's not how the soup is served!

3. You may add 2tsp of cornflour slurry while boiling if you want it thick.

4. The choice of vegetables & mushrooms is entirely upto your preference.I'd suggest cooking the veggies until almost done as residual heat will cook it further. Also, because overcooking is very common while making soups destroying the nutritional value!

5. If you can't decide, go with this mix:

Veggies: Babycorn, onions, tomatoes, lemongrass, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, ginger

Mushrooms: Oyster, Button (either or both)

6. For Jains:

Its really simple, just omit the onions. No difference to taste. Proceed as it is. It tastes delicious without mushrooms also!

Let me know how it turned out! Please leave your experiences in the comments section. If you have any suggestions, ideas or made any changes to this recipe, I'd love to know!

Let it rain while you enjoy this delightful soup with your loved ones!