Tom Kha Gai

I was strolling through the supermarket the other day and somehow I ended up in the international aisle. It must have been fate, since I had never really cooked outside of my comfort zone a.k.a mac and cheese, spaghetti and sauce, the occasional ramen noodle package, and of course, my favorite breakfast foods, eggs and bacon. It was daunting at first, but when I saw the cans of coconut milk on the bottom row hidden all the way in the corner, I instantly remembered some of my favorite savory Thai dishes, like panang curry and thai red curry chicken and my ultimate go to, tom kha soup. It was too late to go out for Thai, so adventurous me decided Ty and I were going to have tom kha soup for dinner that night.

Once I got home, I ventured far from my familiar and comfortable culinary world. I was definitely nervous. Some experiments in my kitchen have ended up in late night runs to the nearby Wendy's. But once that gas stove was lit and I started adding those fantastical ingredients of lime and lemongrass and ginger and chili, beautiful and intoxicating flavors filled the room. And let me tell you, each spoonful was even better than the last. Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

What you'll need:

1 can (14 fl. oz.) of Thai Kitchen Lite Coconut Milk, shake well before using

1 cup  of low sodium chicken broth

1 or 2 stocks of lemongrass, peel the layers away and slice very thin

Several slices of fresh ginger or ginger powder, use sparingly – pro chefs use galangal root instead, which is in the same family as ginger (I used ginger and it turned out great)

1 diced hot red pepper or a thai chili or even red chili powder - whatever your tastebuds prefer/can handle

1 or 2 tbsp of fish sauce - if you don’t have it, that’s ok! I didn’t and it still tasted great.

1 or 2 limes

1 or two chicken breasts or 1 pound of chicken thighs, which are cheaper, still considerably lean, and moister

1 tbsp of cornstarch

1 tsp of water

A package of white mushrooms

Dash of salt and pepper

A handful of cilantro

Directions:

1)      Add coconut milk, chicken broth, lemongrass, ginger, peppers, fish sauce and the freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime into a pot. Bring to a simmer.

2)      While heating the broth, prepare chicken into bite size pieces, approximately 1 inch .

3)      Once that’s complete, mix the corn starch with water. Coat the chicken sections with the corn starch mix to make the chicken extra tender and yummy.

4)      Add the chicken into the pot. Stir regularly.

5)      After a few minutes or so when the chicken begins turning white, add the mushrooms.

6)      Once chicken is cooked thoroughly, which should only take another few minutes, add a dash of salt and pepper. Taste to see if more lime juice or additional seasoning is needed.

7)      Remove from heat. Serve with cilantro on top. And if you dare, add some more chili for that extra kick.