I’m a Tom Kha kinda Gai

It’s Pavlovian. When I feel crappy, you get recipes.

Call it fatigue; call it failure of imagination. Today, I intended to write a Smart Bitches Day post on the shapeshifting emotion of love and the slit-lamp light most romances hold to love. Based on my extensive reading of the genre, you understand. I have all kinds of neat insights to share.

Instead, I’m sharing soup.

This healthy and versatile soup is closely related to Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut milk and chicken soup). One ingredient may be hard to find, but the rest should be a piece of cake.

Trust me on this: it’s far easier than it looks.

Here’s the base (for four main course servings):

32 oz chicken broth

13.5 oz coconut milk

fish sauce (to taste)

red curry paste (to taste)

Depending upon where you live, the red curry paste might be a challenge. You want Thai red curry paste (nam prik kaeng dang). The brand I use is Moesri. Panang curry paste and green curry paste work too, but the end result tastes different (especially if you use green curry paste). If you cannot find it locally, here’s an online source.

When you shop, you’ll need to decide how you want this to work. You have two major decisions: meat vs. vegetarian, and selection of vegetables.

Meat vs. Vegetarian

For a vegetarian soup — kinda sorta vegetarian, since the fish sauce is not negotiable — you don’t need to add anything in particular, but I like dicing a block of firm tofu and adding it to the soup midway through the recipe. Mushrooms and noodles are other options.

How about meat choices? For Tom Kha Gai, slice chicken breasts into medallions. Other options include leftover pork chops, roast beef, steak, shrimp, or scallops.

Selection of Vegetables

You want this soup to be pretty. Include a selection of greens (green onion, celery, cilantro, broccoli, green bell pepper), reds (fresh tomato, red bell pepper), and orange (carrots).

Putting it all together

1. Put two tablespoons of oil in your soup pot and heat on high. I use a mixture of canola oil and peanut oil, since straight peanut oil is, in my opinion, too overwhelming. Add chopped green onions (the white parts, diced) and chopped garlic, if desired. You can substitute shallots, yellow onions or red onions. Stir fry until the onion and garlic just begin to turn golden.

2. If you’re using mushrooms, throw them into the pot and stir fry them until wilted. Pour everything out into a bowl.

3. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot and return it to the heat. Add about two heaping tablespoons of curry paste to the pot. (If your family is sensitive to pepper, add less than this. You can always add more curry paste later, if the soup tastes too bland.) Stir fry the paste. It will sputter like crazy. DON’T BURN IT.

4. Add the coconut milk and stir. Some folks might want to use less than a full can, but I like using the whole can. Once the red-orange oil surfaces, add the chicken broth. Heat until it simmers.

5. Add fish sauce, one tablespoon at a time. Stir and taste. Stop adding fish sauce when the soup is as salty as you want it to be. If you like sesame oil, add a dash or two.

6. Now for the fun. You want to add things in the right order. Slow-cooking items like broccoli and meat go in early; fast-cooking items like tomato, green onion, and cilantro go in last. Remember, even broccoli and celery will cook thoroughly in simmering broth in about five minutes, so you don’t have time to dick around. Which brings me to #7:

7. Mise en place. Make sure you’ve chopped up everything, and I mean everything, ahead of time.

8. This is easy. You can do it. Just think about your ingredients ahead of time and make sure you know how long it takes things to cook. Shrimp, scallops, and chicken breast medallions all take about five minutes. Don’t overcook. The meat should be succulent, not tough, and the vegetables should be crispy. Garnishes (cilantro, green onion) go in after the heat is OFF.

9. Some folks like to add a bit of sugar (maybe a teaspoon for starters), some folks like to add lemon or lime juice, and some like both. If the soup base doesn’t taste quite right to you and you have already adjusted for salt, think about these possibilities.

This dish requires foresight and planning, but the assembly is fast, very few dirty dishes are produced, and the end product is hearty and satisfying. I hope some of you will try it.

D.