My Orange County readers may be familiar with this month’s Top Mom – she’s Anita of Mad Hungry Woman fame.
Anita is an international food writer who moved here from Hong Kong and writes dining reviews for the Orange County Register and her blog, Diary of a Mad Hungry Woman, AND is also is also the world’s 2nd most prolific Elite Yelper with over 3,500 reviews.
Even though Anita dines out more than your average person, she still cooks at home for her son, Seb – a budding gourmand himself, and her husband. Given her Chinese heritage she often cooks Asian dishes and posts photos on Facebook that prompt an immediate Pavlovian response: drooling, followed by getting in your car to drive to the nearest Asian noodle shop because you don’t cook 😉
Anita swears that most of what she cooks is really easy and shares her Thai Tom Ka Gai soup with us.
Thai Tom Ka Gai
(Coconut Chicken Soup)
This is a quick and easy recipe I have used for years and is very simple to throw together as long as you have the ingredients available. It is easily adjustable in terms of vegetables if you can’t find some of the items. Naturally, using the traditional ingredients will allow for a more authentic taste, but there is no set rule to this.
Thai Tom Ka Gai can easily be enjoyed at home in about 30 minutes and can be prepared ahead of time up to step 4 and refrigerated up to 2 days. When ready to serve, complete steps 5-7 and your soup is ready.
Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
1 stalk lemongrass
2-3 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
8 oz coconut milk
6 oz chicken meat sliced thinly (you can use white or dark)
1- 8 oz can sliced bamboo shoots
1- 8 oz can straw mushrooms
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 fresh lime
Method:
1) Trim lemongrass and remove outer layer. Pound the lemongrass to break the fibers.
2) In a pot, combine chicken stock, coconut milk, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves (if using) bring to a boil. Turn to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
3) Rinse bamboo shoots and straw mushrooms with water well — soak for 10 minutes if needed to remove the pungent aroma of bamboo shoots and set aside.
4) Thinly slice chicken into bite size pieces, toss with 1 Tbsp fish sauce if and set aside.
5) Add bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, turn heat up high and bring back to a boil.
6) When liquid is boiling rapidly, add chicken and stir quickly to separate. Once it returns to a rapid boil, turn to low, taste and add more fish sauce if needed to taste.
7) Turn off heat, add the juice of 1/2-1 lime to taste.
Serves 4
5 Star Foodie
May 2 at 11:38 amWe love this soup and I would love to make it at home, thanks for sharing Anita’s recipe.
Magic of Spice
May 2 at 3:00 pmI love the flavors here…nice recipe!
Hi Anita, I have read a few of your OC restaurant adventures and found then quite enjoyable 🙂
Pachecopatty
May 2 at 7:00 pmWow, you had me at fish sauce and lime;-)
This soup recipe is a keeper, thanks for sharing.
Biren @ Roti n Rice
May 2 at 7:21 pmLooks and sounds delicious! These quick recipes are a life saver on busy weeknights.
Angie's Recipes
May 3 at 1:06 amThe soup looks so creamy and appetizing!
Faith
May 3 at 6:06 amWhat a pretty soup and it sounds super delicious too! The little straw mushrooms are adorable…they always remind me of Disney’s Fantasia! 🙂
Victoria @ Mission: Food
May 4 at 9:33 amGreat recipe from Anita! Hope your trip is going great, Priscilla 🙂
Anita
May 4 at 5:37 pmThanks everyone.
Magic of Spice: thank you so much for reading 🙂
Pudding Pie Lane
May 5 at 7:16 amIs this like tom yam soup? I had that for the first time last summer and it was delicious. I want to try this!
[email protected]
May 11 at 10:40 amI never knew how easy this soup was! Thanks Priscilla for introducing us to Anita and for the great recipe!
RavieNomNoms
May 11 at 10:59 amLook at that! I haven’t ever heard of this before, but it sure looks good and is beautiful to boot!
Carolyn
May 11 at 2:46 pmThis looks fabulous. Thanks for having Anita share it with us.
Sandra's Easy Cooking
May 12 at 6:59 amHello ladies!
Thanks Priscilla for sharing this recipe, and introducing new blogger to me! Anita I love this soup and nice to meet you!!!
Sara
May 14 at 5:00 pmThanks Prisicilla for giving us this recipe! I love recipes with coconut milk but this one seems to be unbeatable!
[email protected]
May 14 at 6:02 pmI love coconut milk!!
That is one delicious bowl of soup!
Hester aka The Chef Doc
May 15 at 9:20 amThank you so much for sharing this, Anita. The soup looks wonderful and easy to make!