Thai style Tom Kha Gai (galangal & chicken soup)..

Thai style Tom Kha Gai (galangal & chicken soup)..

A mate put me onto this recipe (Cheers Sir) & seeing as we had a lot of the herbs/spices needed growing in the patch it was worth a crack I thought.. Normally the only veggie/fungus added is mushrooms from what I have seen but I decided to add some other greens instead as they were ready to harvest..

Ingredients...

2 x 400ml tins coconut cream/milk (I like to use cream)
400ml water
15 thin slices of fresh galangal root (75mm/3" piece)
1 large or 2 small stalks of lemongrass, bruised & cut into 40mm/1½" pieces.
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn into thirds
4 chicken thighs, diced into 10mm/½" pieces
2 tbsp fish sauce
1½ tbsp lime juice
½ tbsp palm/rapadura/Panela sugar
2 Chillies, diced finely3/4 cup of raw jasmine rice, cooked..
My extra additions were,
1 small zucchini/courgette, sliced thinly
8 snake bean, cut into 25mm/1" lengths
Full handful of chopped greens per person..

- Place coconut cream/milk, water, lemongrass, galangal & kaffir leaves into saucepan & bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 min.
- Add chicken, simmer for another 15 min & start to cook rice.
- Remove soup from heat, add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar & chillies to soup, mix, then tweak as needed.
- The galangal, lemongrass & lime leaves can be removed now or left in to be eaten around as they are rather tough to eat.
- Add leafy greens to bowl then top with cooked rice.
- Add beans, zucchini then soup to bowl & serve...

Veggies came out nice & crunchy, just the way I like it.. This meal will definitely get a spin on the menu again as it was mild enough for the whole family to devour yet the chilli added at the end gave a nice little kick for Bianca & I..
Hope you like it if you try it...
Rob..

Has been a while since posting on this blog... I have finely gotten motivated to document a few cooking adventures so shall try to post at least more than once every few months, or is that 10 months **blushes**
Well, to start off I have finely made something that I have wanted to do for quite some time.. I have made up some tomato powder from our first decent harvest of tomatoes in years.. For us it is the best way I can think of to store the tomatoes so we can save some space in the pantry for other bulky items..

As tomatoes end up being stewed down in most of the hot meals we make I thought this method of preserving made sense as soon as I saw it.. Have been waiting a while to make up the powder after seeing it on shadowofjuniperhill's YouTube channel last year & am most glad I have finely made some :)

For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our "Bits Out the Back" Facebook page..
Have a great one All...