And Now…A Little Tom Kha

I happen to adore Thai food.  I adore Thai food almost more than brownies.  And that’s saying a lot.  Once I tried my hand at making it I was completely hooked.  Since then I’ve made several different curries and various other Thai dishes, including some of my own Thai inspired concoctions.

Tom Kha is crazy easy and you can add or eliminate vegetables as you wish.  You can use chicken, pork, fish, shellfish, or none at all.  I really enjoy the chicken, mushroom, onion blend, but feel free to experiment with your own!  The trick with Thai is keeping a few staples on hand.  I keep a curry paste at all times…in fact I keep three…a green, a yellow, and a red.  I get them from the Asian market acrosss town.

I also keep some canned coconut milk and none of that light stuff. Forget that.  And I keep minced ginger in a little jar in the fridge and a bottle of peanut oil in the pantry along with just a few dried red chili peppers, just in case.  In case of what you might ask?  Oh, I dunno…in case you might be pissed at your husband or something so you make his favorite Thai dish to kiss and make up, but you want to make sure it’s a dish he remembers so you add one…or five….crushed red peppers to the dish…yanno, just for fun.  Not that I’ve ever done that or anything.

Where were we?  Thai….so for the Tom Kha you want to make the broth first.  I tossed in my crushed chili peppers…I like it hot….the chicken broth, the coconut milk, the lime juice, ginger, and the salt and sugar.  I gave it a dash of fish sauce and proceeded to cut the veggies.  I sliced a pound of button mushrooms, a bunch of green onions in long strips, a small white onion in thin~ish wedges, and two chicken breasts into slices across the grain.  The chicken cooks faster when sliced.

I put the mushroom and the white onions in first and let them simmer for about ten minutes, followed by the chicken giving it another ten minutes, and ended with the green onions.  This is one of my favorite things to do with boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I ladled some out and topped it with a little fresh cilantro.  When my son was done taking pictures of it, I snuck some bites in before dinner.  Ssshhhhh!

My Tom Kha

2 quarts chicken broth
2 cans coconut milk
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pound white mushrooms
2 limes
1 to 2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 small white onion
1 bunch green onions
A few dried red thai chili peppers crushed or left whole (I do half and half)
2 teaspoons salt
2 heaping tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons crushed ginger
Handful fresh cilantro leaves

First start the broth.  Combine chicken broth, coconut milk, the juice from 2 limes, the ginger, salt, sugar, fish sauce, and chili peppers and bring to a boil on medium high heat, then reduce to low to simmer for about an hour. 

While that’s cooking, slice up your mushrooms, white and green onions, and chicken.  Toss in the white onion and the mushrooms, adding the chicken and green onions last and cook for another 15 or 20 minutes. 

Garnish with cilantro leaves.