🇹🇭 Thailand
Tom khaThai coconut chicken soup
Thai sour-salty soup defined by coconut milk and galangal (kha), with lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce and chilli; chicken (gai) is the usual protein, and the same soup is made with fish, prawns, seafood, pork, mushrooms or tofu.
Origin and history
A Thai soup whose name says what it is: tom (boiled), kha (galangal), gai (chicken). Its exact origin is unclear; it probably grew out of Thai herbal broths, with coconut milk a later addition, and an early recorded form, dated to around 1890, was made with duck. Chicken became the usual meat. Thailand promotes it as a national dish, and in 2023 TasteAtlas ranked it the world's best chicken soup.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 40 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
Ingredients
- 400 g14 oz boneless chicken thigh or breast, in thin bite-sized slices
- 600 ml2 1/2 cups thin coconut milk (hang kati), or 1 can (400 ml) coconut milk plus 200 ml (3/4 cup) water
- 250 ml1 cup thick coconut milk or coconut cream (hua kati)
- 60 g2 oz (a 7-8 cm / 3 in piece) galangal (kha), young if possible, thinly sliced; plus an extra knob of older galangal, bruised, if you have it
- 3 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layers removed, cut in 3 cm (1 1/4 in) lengths and bruised
- 6 makrut lime leaves (bai makrut), torn, central rib removed
- 150 g5 oz straw mushrooms (het fang) or oyster mushrooms, halved or torn
- 5-15 bird's eye chillies (phrik khi nu), lightly crushed; to taste
- 3-4 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
- 3-4 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 1-2 tsp palm sugar or white sugar, optional
- 1 small bunch coriander leaves (phak chi), roughly chopped
Method
-
1. Bring the thin coconut milk to a gentle simmer in a pot over medium-low heat, stirring now and then so it does not catch.
-
2. If using older galangal, add the bruised knob and simmer for 10 minutes to scent the coconut milk, then lift it out.
-
3. Add the sliced galangal and lemongrass and simmer for 3 minutes, until the kitchen smells strongly of both.
-
4. Add the chicken and simmer gently for 5-8 minutes, until it is just cooked through and white in the centre.
-
5. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes more.
-
6. Season with the fish sauce and sugar (if using), then pour in the thick coconut milk and add the lime leaves. Heat until it is steaming and just about to boil, then take the pot off the heat; hard boiling makes the coconut milk split.
-
7. Put the crushed chillies and lime juice in the serving bowl (or stir them into the pot off the heat) so the lime stays fresh and bright.
-
8. Taste: the soup should lead with sour and salty, with a mild chilli heat and only a faint sweetness. Adjust with lime juice or fish sauce, scatter with coriander and serve with jasmine rice.
Notes
- Tom kha should be fragrant and lightly creamy, not thick like a cream soup. Thai cooks use the thin second pressing of coconut milk for cooking and add the thick first pressing at the end.
- The galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves flavour the soup but are not usually eaten; they are left in the bowl.
- Ginger is not a substitute for galangal: it is hotter and lacks galangal's piney, citrus smell. Frozen or dried galangal slices (soaked) are better than none.
- The same soup is made with other proteins and named after them: tom kha pla (fish), tom kha kung (prawns), tom kha thale (seafood), tom kha mu (pork), tom kha het (mushrooms only) and tom kha taohu (tofu). Some cooks sour it with tamarind as well as lime, or add a spoonful of nam phrik phao (roasted chilli paste) for colour and depth.
- Tom yam is the clear (or milk-enriched) sour-hot cousin made with the same herbs; tom kha is defined by coconut milk and galangal.
- Best eaten freshly made. If reheating, warm it gently and add a fresh squeeze of lime.
- Related: laksa, the coconut-curry noodle soup of Malaysia and Singapore.
Adapted from Thailand Foundation, "Tom Kha Gai" and Phol Tantasathien, PholFoodMafia, "Tom Kha Gai (ต้มข่าไก่)".
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Poland.
Earlier editions
-
May 19, 2007
🇵🇱 Kraków, Poland
6th Soup Festival
On the menu as Thai galangal soup with chicken
By Horai Restaurant