Tom Kah Soup

FINALLY! Why do I say this? Let me start with a quick back story: Any time we go visit my family in California we always order from this amazing Thai restaurant called Thai East Wind Restaurant. We usually get the same things every time we order there and one of those dishes is their Fisherman's Seafood Chowder. Now, this is the best soup I have ever had at a Thai place, so any time my mom and I go to a Thai restaurant we absolutely have to order a Tom Kah soup.
{Since the Fisherman's Chowder's base is coconut milk, Tom Kah is the soup we needed to try.}
Each Thai place we've eaten at has had delicious Tom Kah soup, but nothing has come close to that Chowder from East Wind, until recently. The time has come where we met our match. A couple of years ago my best friend gave me a cookbook called Everyday Thai Cooking, so one day my mom and I decided to conquer one of the recipes in there and boy did we conquer it. We made the Tom Kah Soup and it was absolutely fantastic; the closest we have ever had to Fisherman's Seafood Chowder! We couldn't stop raving about how amazing it tasted and that we finally found it! Though this recipe may take time to cook and effort to find the ingredients, it is sooooo worth it all. We will most definitely be making this again.

We also made some California Sushi Rolls! Check out the recipe here.

Ingredients

2 cups chicken stock 

Six 1/4 in thick slices galangal or fresh ginger

2 stalks lemongrass, cut unto 2 in long pieces and bruised

4 kaffir lime leaves, torn in half (optional)

1 tbsp palm or brown sugar

1 and a half tsp Roasted Red Chili Paste 

1 cup coconut milk 

1 cup sliced white button mushrooms

3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

2-3 fresh hot red or green chilies, preferably Thai, smashed

Fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) for garnish

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thigh cut into 1 in pieces

8 shelled and deveined medium-sized raw shrimp

18 pieces of calamari rings, cut into strips

1/2 -1 lb of imitation crab meat

White rice (optional)

Directions

Cook the white rice in a rice cooker. Put the chicken stock, galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, palm (or brown) sugar, and Roasted Red Chili Paste in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the coconut milk, reduce the heat and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and mushrooms and continue simmering until the chicken is white and opaque, 5-7 minutes. Quickly stir in the lime juice and fish sauce. Remove from the heat and add the shrimp, calamari, and crab. Let stand for 4-5 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Float the chilies on the soup. Dish out rice and soup into individual serving mugs or bowls and sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

LATER RATER