A Thai chicken soup packed with flavours of lemongrass, gaalangal (thai ginger) and lime juice. Loved by all in my family, this soup can also be prepared by adding coconut milk to it (Tom-Kha soup).
Ingredients:
Fresh red chillies or green chillies – 4
Lemon grass – 1 stalk
Galangal diced – 2 inch piece
Evaporated milk – 3 tbsps
Kaffir lime leaves – 5 or 6
Nam Pril Pao paste -3 tbsp
Chicken boneless diced or prawns deveined and shelled- 150 gms
Tomatoes – 1 big
Button Mushrooms – 7 – 8 pieces
Garlic – 4 pieces finely chopped
Lime juice – 4 tbsp
Fish sauce – 3 tbsp
White sugar – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves chopped – 2 tbsp
Preparation:
Crush the chillies coarsely using a mortar. In a wide bottomed pan, add oil and heat it. When hot, add the chillies, chopped garlic, chopped mushrooms, onions and saute well. Add the chicken pieces and saute again until it is 3/4 th cooked. Then add tomatoes, lemongrass stalk cut into pieces, galangal, kafir lime leaves and 4 cups of water to it. Then, add in the evaporated milk and the nam prik pao paste(note below) and stir well until it dissolves. Simmer for 10 – 15 minutes on low heat.
Turn off the heat and add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Season it as per your liking. The soup should be tangy, salty and spicy.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Note: Thai Nam Prik Pao is a concentrated thai paste made of chilles, garlic, shallots, dried shrimp. It is avaiable in all Asian grocery shops in the Thai section.
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