Golden Coconut Tom Kha Gai

⏱ 35 min · Serves 4

A silky, fragrant Thai coconut chicken soup humming with galangal, lemongrass and lime. It's ready in half an hour but tastes like it simmered all afternoon — sour, salty, creamy and gently hot all at once.

Per serving: 625 kcal · 27.0g protein · 16.0g carbs · 52.0g fat

Ingredients

• 2 x 400ml tins full-fat coconut milk
• 300ml chicken stock
• 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut into 5cm lengths
• 5cm piece fresh galangal (or ginger), thinly sliced
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 3 coriander roots or stems, bruised
• 400g chicken thigh fillets, thinly sliced
• 200g button or oyster mushrooms, halved
• 2-4 bird's eye chillies, lightly crushed
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1.5 tsp palm sugar or light brown sugar
• 3-4 tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 small tomato, cut into wedges (optional)
• Handful coriander leaves, to serve
• 2 spring onions, sliced, to serve
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Pour the chicken stock and the thinner liquid from the coconut milk tins into a saucepan. Add the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and coriander roots. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 10 minutes to infuse.
2. Add the thick coconut cream from the tins and return to a bare simmer — don't let it boil hard or it may split.
3. Slip in the sliced chicken and simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until just cooked through.
4. Add the mushrooms, crushed chillies and tomato wedges if using. Simmer 3-4 minutes until the mushrooms are tender.
5. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice. Taste and balance: more fish sauce for salt, lime for sourness, a pinch of sugar to round it out.
6. Fish out the woody lemongrass and galangal if you like, then ladle into bowls. Scatter with coriander and spring onion and serve hot, with jasmine rice alongside.