Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup), Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener
International dishesSoupsThailandabout 25 minutes
Tom kha gai gives a bowl that is gently rich and sharply sour, scented with galangal and lemongrass. The difficulty is the balance, keeping the sour, the salt and the sweet from swamping one another.
The galangal and lemongrass are cut into lengths, crushed and simmered in the chicken stock before anything else goes in. The lime juice is squeezed in at the very end, since adding it early turns the soup bitter.
This batch weighs about 1.7kg, at roughly 84 calories per 100g.
Method
Cut the lemongrass and galangal into lengths and crush them. Wash the tomato and cut it into wedges. Trim the base off the brown beech mushroom, separate the clusters and rinse them. Peel and chop the shallot, pound the chili, and chop the spring onion and cilantro.
Soak the chicken breast in dilute salt water for 7 to 10 minutes, squeeze it gently to clean it, rinse it and cut it into small bite sized pieces about half a finger joint.
Put 500ml chicken stock in a pot with 1 piece of galangal, 2 stalks of lemongrass and 4 shallots, and heat over medium. Add 2 teaspoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 400ml coconut milk, and stir well.
Once it begins to simmer, add the tomato, 150g mushroom, the chicken breast, 3 chopped kaffir lime leaves and the chili, and stir. Cook over medium heat until the chicken is done and the tomato is soft.
Scatter the spring onion and cilantro over the top, squeeze in the juice of 1 lime, stir and serve.
Tips
Fresh galangal is sold at the market and is not interchangeable with ginger, as the aroma is completely different.
Chicken breast cut into pieces about half a finger joint cooks quickly, while larger pieces come out tough and dry.
Once the tomato softens and the skin lifts away, pull the skin out for a tidier bowl.
Squeeze the lime at the end, just before the heat goes off, so the soup does not turn bitter.
Straw mushroom, king oyster mushroom or button mushroom all work in place of brown beech mushroom.
A soup with coconut milk spoils quickly, so bring it back to a boil, cool it and keep it in the fridge for about 2 days.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.