Ingredients
2 stalks lemon grass
1 cup water
4 cup coconut milk
8 chicken thighs or
1 1/3 lb chicken breast, diced
10 slice galangal
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 small fresh chilies
3 bergamot leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
GARNISH
1 spring onions, shredded
1 chilies, shredded
Directions
This one's a bit more complex and gets into some exotic ingredients.
All of them should be available from an Asian grocery. If you have
any questions about what the ingredients are or how to use them, just
ask. The only thing that can not be substituted for is the fish
sauce. You could use ginger instead of galangal, but the soup would
lack the perfumed, exotic aroma of the galangal that adds so much to
the dish.
Lime zest could be used for the bergamot leaves.
Cut the lemon grass into 1-inch pieces. Bring the water to the boil
with half the coconut milk. Then add the chicken, lemon grass,
galangal and 1 tablespoon fish sauce. Simmer for about 20 minutes or
until the chicken is cooked. Less cooking time will be required for
diced chicken breast.
Stir in the remaining coconut milk and turn up the heat. As soon as it
begins to boil, toss in the whole chilies and bergamot leaves. Stir,
and remove from the heat.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle each with lemon juice and fish
sauce to taste and garnish with slivers of spring onions and chili.
From "Discover Thai Cooking" by Chaslin, Canungmai and Tettoni, Times
Editions, Singapore. 1987
Posted by Stephen Ceideburg; February 6 1991.
Servings: 1 servings
Chicken Soup With Galangal (Kai Tom Kha) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chicken; Chicken Soup; Poultry; Soup
The History of Recipes
Historians have proved the existance of recipes far back into history, in fact as far back into history as the early Egyptians, and maybe even further. Interesting though that is, these, early recipes were just primitive pictorial instructions for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some stone tablets in the Sumerian language which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel `blissful`. During Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote a number of scripts showing how to cook the recipes enjoyed by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were divided into hors d`oeuvres, main course and desserts, a very modern way of dining. Additionally, he tells us how the ancient Romans made use of a wide range of aromatic flavors, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens like thyme, mint and asafoetida. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we find some books dating from the 1300s : one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary named `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are somewhat misleading tho`, these books are unconnected to the spicy food that we all know today, but instead accounts of the types of food prepared by the chefs of the rich and wealthy people of those days. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods, spices and herbs from Arab countries, including spices such as coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new culinary ideas caused a torrent in cookery books, the majority of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. By the arrival of the 20th century, cook books were greatly in demand due to more people being able to read, increased leisure time and being a little richer. |
We hope you enjoy this Chicken Soup With Galangal (Kai Tom Kha) recipe.
