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Tom Kha Gai Recipe (

) A Tutorial for
Beginners
by Leela on November 5, 2010 in She Deglutenizes, She Simmers, She Thais

Id waited two years to introduce Tom Kha Gai (RTGS: tom kha kai) (

), one of the
most loved Thai dishes of all time, on this blog because and this probably wont make a
lot of sense Ive loved it so much and for so long that I didnt know how to write about
it. I still dont. And while some dishes, e.g. Pad Thai (which is even more popular), have
been left out mainly due to apathy, this one had been put on hold solely due to fear. (Um,
not anymore. On November 27th, 2011, I published my Pad Thai recipe.)
Tom Kha Gai isnt just any dish its one of my top five most favorite dishes in the world, Thai

or otherwise. At a risk of taking anthropomorphism of food a bit too far, I felt that if I let
myself write about Tom Kha Gai with the kind of unbridled affection from the depth of my
bowels, Id bore or scare you. Yet, if I held back, Id be remiss for not giving the dish
the love it deserves.
Overwhelmed with affection for this soup, Ill write in numbered points.

Sliced paper thin, tender galangal tips provide crunch and herbal aroma to this dish.

1. Tom Kha Gaiis a soup made of chicken (Gai) cooked (Tom) in coconut milk which has
been infused with galangal (Kha), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves.

2. Tom Kha Gai is seasoned primarily with lime juice and fish sauce. Palm or coconut sugar
is not necessary as the natural sweetness of coconut is enough for me. In fact, I find
cloyingly sweet Tom Kha Gai kind of disgusting, though not as vile as Tom Kha Gai
seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar.

Since the purpose at hand is infusion, the entire lemongrass stalk, even the fibrous part,
can be used.

3. In our household when I was growing up, Tom Kha Gai was made with bonein, skinon
pieces of chicken that have been cooked until tender. Coconut cream (the head of
coconut milk or
) would be added toward the end along with the fresh herbs,
followed by fresh birds eye chilies and fresh cilantro. The broth isnt so thick and creamy,
yet it is very flavorful due to the chicken bones. Some street vendors also throw chicken
innards, feet, and congealed blood into the mix. Rarely would you find that kind of Tom
Kha Gai at a Thai restaurant overseas. Most of the time, youll get thick and creamy
coconut broth with friendly boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bitesized pieces.
Nothing wrong with that. In fact, thats the version Im presenting here. You just have to
employ a different cooking method to make up for the loss of savoriness in the broth.

Part of your mise en place: smashed lemongrass, torn kaffir lime leaves, sliced galangal,
smashed chilies

4. Some restaurants have taken to adding roasted chili oil or sometimes Nam Prik Pao (Thai
chili jam) to Tom Kha Gai just as they do to Tom Yam. Its a bit strange to my eye and
tongue, and I dont recall ever seeing it made that way in Thailand growing up or even
now.

5. Tom Kha Gai is always relegated to the soup category in cookbooks and on
restaurant menus. Heres an annoying, hairsplitting, philosophical question: is everything
brothy a soup? Is the soup designation based on its appearance or the way in which
it is served and consumed? You decide. The fact is that Tom Kha Gai, like most Thai dishes
soupy or not are almost always served with rice as an entre, as part of the whole
meal ensemble and not as a standalone. [That little bowl of Tom Yam or Tom Kha Gai
which your local Thai restaurant serves you with a couple of mini spring rolls as part of your
lunch special is a westernized practice.]

6. How do I eat Tom Kha Gai? (I delusionally assume you care to find out.) This freaks out
pretty much every American friend who has dined with me at various Thai restaurants in
the US: I usually order a serving of Tom Kha Gai from the dinner menu which usually comes
with rice, dump the rice into the Tom Kha Gai bowl, give it a stir, and eat it like that. The
onebowl approach is not a sophisticated (or traditional) way of eating Tom Kha Gai, but I
like it that way. Regardless, eating this dish with rice is a common practice. Tom Kha Gai is,
after all, an entree a soup entree to be eaten with rice.

Straw mushroom is my favorite, but oyster (or white button) works too. Anything but
shiitake!

7. The recipe which Im sharing with you is a compromise between the traditional/old
fashionedrustic Tom Kha Gai (with bonein and skinon hunks of chicken and gnarly,
curling chicken feet flailing about in the pot) and the kind made by dissolving some
bottled Tom Kha paste in coconut milk. If you dont like bones in your soup, dont feel
guilty. Likewise, if you absolutely cannot find fresh galangal (without which Tom Kha isnt
Tom Kha), fresh lemongrass, and fresh kaffir lime leaves, dont feel bad about using the
paste. Its still better than using dried galangal, dried lemongrass, and dried kaffir lime
leaves which, from my experience, yields probably the most disgusting Tom Kha Gai if
you can even call it that Ive ever had any time anywhere. Broth infused with the dried
version of those herbs tastes like really bad herbal medicine.

8. The problem with boneless, skinless chicken breast meat is that its susceptible to being
overcooked. Your broth could be seasoned well, but if your chicken is tough and rubbery,
that takes the joy out of the whole experience. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are much
better, if you ask me. But if you use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, be sure to slice the
meat against the grain (though, as you can see from the pictures, I broke my own rule )
and cook it very, very gently as if youre poaching the chicken meat. Chef Michael
Pardus shows you how to poach shrimp the right way in the video below, but the concept
applies to boneless, skinless, bitesized pieces of chicken breast meat as well.


Note: Tom kha gai is usually made with bonein, skinon chunks of chicken (as explained
here). The bones turn the plain watercoconut milk liquid into a delicious broth in the
process of long, slow cooking. The lowtemperature cooking method is recommended
only when you opt for boneless, skinless chicken breast meat.

Start off by infusing the coconut milkchicken stock mixture with the fresh herbs. Get the
temperature of the liquid to the level ideal for poaching, then add the chicken breast
meat last. If we had gone with the oldfashioned Tom Kha Gai, I would have suggested
you use the same method explained in my OldFashioned Tom Yam post. But since were
using bitesized pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, we need to slightly alter
the cooking method by adding the chicken meat to the liquid last and cooking it very,
very gently.

Also, since theres very little flavor in boneless, skinless chicken breast meat to impart to the
broth (thats why people dont make chicken stock out of boneless, skinless chicken
breasts), the concentrated chicken stock and the fish sauce will be the primary sources of
umami in this lightweight version of Tom Kha Gai. Neither is optional.

Tom Kha with oyster mushrooms (the best vegetarian option, in my opinion) with added
Nam Prik Pao

9. Can Tom Kha Gai be made vegetarian? Here are my thoughts:

Named as such, the dish has meat chicken, to be precise in it by definition which
implies that it is not meant to be vegetarian. For those who abstain from meat, you can
use tofu or, as I have done from time to time during my detox phases, assorted wild
mushrooms which are very meaty and delicious. A friend of mine loves sliced cabbage
(regular or savoy) in lieu of the gai in her Tom Kha Gai. My grandmother sometimes threw
in hearts of palm, hearts of coconut, or sliced banana blossoms into the mix. None of this is
traditional yet all of these meat substitutes are delicious. I dont like green leafy
vegetables in Tom Kha, though. In fact, anything in the cruciferous family, except for
green cabbage, tastes pretty bad to me when cooked this way. But thats just an opinion.

10. Regardless, when gai is omitted, you cant call it Tom Kha Gai just as you wouldnt
say vegetarian barbecued pork. Tom Kha Hed (mushroom), Tom Kha TaoHu (tofu), or
Tom Kha Ka Lam Pli (cabbage) whichever applies would be more appropriate.Oh,
and dont forget to boost the flavor by using very concentrated vegetable stock and
seasoning the broth with salt instead of fish sauce for the use of soy sauce would be a
surest way to kill this lovely dish.

Though anemiclooking, this coconuty broth packs in lots of flavor from concentrated
chicken stock

This recipe yields 23 servings of main dish soup (meant to accompany rice)

TomKhaGai(

)

4.9 from 7 reviews

Author:Leela
Recipetype:Entree
Cuisine:Thai

Ingredients
3cups(24fluidounces)sodiumfreechickenstock
1lbboneless,skinlesschickenbreasts,cutintobitesizepiecesacross
thegrain
lb(8ounces)freshorcannedstrawmushrooms(drained)
Onestalklemongrass
56freshbird'seyechilies(moreorlessdependingonyourheat
preference)
2inchpieceoffreshgalangal,slicedthinlycrosswise
45freshkaffirlimeleaves
45limes
cupfishsauce(buthavemoreready)
cupfreshcilantroleaves
1cups(12fluidounces)fullfatcoconutmilk

Print

Instructions

1. First,concentratethestock.Putthechickenstockinawideandshallowsaucepan(toensurefast
evaporation),bringittoaboil,andreduceitovermediumhighheatuntiltheliquidmeasureshalfits
originalvolume.[Ifyouhaveaccesstovery,verygoodchickenbouillongranuleswhicharenotallabout
saltandverylittleflavor,byallmeans,dilutedoubletheamountyounormallyusein1cupsofplain
waterandusethatinplaceoftheconcentratedchickenstock.].
2. Halve(orquarter)thestrawmushroomsintobitesizedpiecessetaside.[Youcanalsousewhitebutton,
cremini,andoystermushrooms.Anymeaty,mildflavoredmushroomswilldo.Portobellomushroomsare
fineflavorandtexturewise,butevenwiththegillscarefullyscrapedofftheystillturnthebrothintoan
unappetizingshadeofgray.Donotuseshiitaketheflavoriswaytoostrongforthis.Also,Iwouldnever
useanykindofdriedmushroomswhichwillchangetheflavorprofileofthisdishquitedrastically,andnot
inagoodway.]
3. Cutthelemongrassstalkinto1inchpiecesandsmashthemwiththesideofalargeChinesecleaver,a
pestle,oranyheavyobjectlyingaroundinthehousesetaside.
4. Dotothechilieswhatyoujustdidtothelemongrasssetaside.
5. Removethestemsandthetoughveinsthatrunthroughthemiddlefromthekaffirlimeleaves,andtear
themupintosmallpieces.Youcanalsobruisethemalittle.Setaside.
6. Juice2limessetaside.(Youmayneedmoreyoumaynot.It'sbettertohavemorethanyouneedthan
notenough.)
7. Putthecoconutmilkintoa4quartpot,followedbyconcentratedchickenstock,kaffirlimeleaves,
lemongrasspieces,andgalangalslices.
8. Bringthemixtureslowlytobetween160and180F(slightlybelowasimmer),allowingtheherbsto
infusetheliquidforaboutaminute.
9. Keepingthetemperaturesteady,addthemushroomsandthechickentotheliquidadjusttheheatto
maintainthetemperature.Theliquidshouldneveratanypointcometoarapidboil.Dontworryat
160180F,yourchickenwillbethoroughlycooked.
10. Stirgentlytoensurethatthechickenisevenlycooked.(Ifyouwantmoreliquid,addmoreplainwateror
unconcentratedbroth.)
11. Oncethechickeniscookedthrough,throwinthesmashedchiliesandremovethepotfromheat
immediately.
12. Addthejuiceof2limesandthefishsaucetothepot,stir,andtaste.Addmorelimejuiceandfishsauce,if
necessary.Thesoupshouldbepredominantlysour,followedbysalty.Thesweetnesscomesfromnatural
sugarinthecoconutmilk.
13. Stirinthecilantroleavesandserveyourtomkhagaiwithsteamedjasminericeasanentree.
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126ResponsestoTomKhaGaiRecipe(

)ATutorialforBeginners
Lydia November 5, 2010 at 7:17 pm #
Interesting Leela about the nam prik pao not being traditionalIm pretty sure every time Ive had the
soup, it has that in it, and I just double-checked all of my Thai cookbooks (some thai and some american/english)
and they all either call for nam prik pao or some combination of chiles, shallots, coriander, etc. that would
resemble it. I will have to try it your way next time, while, even though I love it with the npp, I am always looking
for something a little different than what Im used to. Thanks for the info!

Angry Asian November 5, 2010 at 7:29 pm #

sigh. i have a problem with finding kaffir lime leaves, tho i did do a dance jig last week when i stumbled
up on galangal at the market.
you know reading thru the instructions on how to make this, its almost like a dance with all the intricate steps on

>