Friday, February 11, 2011

Tom Ka Soup

I must say I'm slightly addicted to this soup. My dear friend and fellow MilSpouse Naomi took me to the Thai grocery store, handed me some "KEY" ingredients and talked me through making this. So what is it? Spicy heaven in a bowl:

Please note my directions aren't from a recipe book, they're from memory, so its not your standard "Betty Crocker" measure and go. Have fun with it!

Start out with

  • 4 tbsp of Tom Ka Paste
  • 1 tbsp of Fish Oil
  • Either Olive Oil or infused Chili Oil [did I mention I like it spicy?]
  • 6 Baby Tomatoes
  • 6 Mushrooms [sliced]
  • 1 Zucchini [sliced]
  • Red Chili Pepper [if you like spice!]
  • Fresh Asian Basil [commissary doesn't have this so I use fresh basil if I can find it or jarred]
  • Fresh Lemon Grass [again, if I can get to the Asian store, otherwise I'll use a squeeze of lime juice to taste]
  • Can of Coconut Milk
  • Can of Coconut Cream [if you like a little sweet with your SPICE] :) Ok I'll stop with the spicy comments
  • 1 cup of water if you go with the sweet version, OR 2 cups of water if you stick with just the Coconut Milk
  • Chicken Breast [I use a bag of flash frozen Chicken Tenderloin 6 pieces]

To start out, pour a little of your Chili/Olive oil in a frying pan, place chicken breast into pan and saute till browned.

While this is going on, open your can of Coconut Milk and pour into a large pot, turn heat on Medium to heat up the Milk [there are instructions on the Tom Ka Paste which are more specific, but I tend to do things my way after I get used to a recipe] once you see it starting to bubble, stir it [you'll also notice a thin film of 'oil' on top] this lets you know its the right heat to add your 4 tbsp of Tom Ka Paste. Mix thoroughly, let it continue to simmer.

Here is also where you would add half the can of Coconut Cream for sweet. Be careful, first time I opened a can of Coconut cream I ended up popping the spoon through a hard crust of coconut to find a surprise SPLASH of clear liquid popping out at me.

Take chicken out of the frying pan, slice it up into bit size chunks, put this in the coconut/paste mix on the stove. Add 1 cup of water. Put a lid on it.

Saute your zucchini & mushrooms in oil as well, just to soften them up and get flavor from the Chili Oil, if you went with the spicy version. You'll also want to dice up your Chili Pepper nice and fine and use it to saute the veggies.

Add veggies to the soup pot.

Add the fish oil, lemon grass, and basil [these are all to taste so you'll have to try it out, I like 1 tbsp of fish oil, a and a tbsp of the lime juice. Basil I use a tsp from the fresh chopped in the jar].

Also those baby tomatoes? Slice them in half now, and pop them into the soup. You don't want to boil the heck out of them but they need to simmer a little bit while the flavors blend together.

This is freezable. In addition you can boil up 1 cup of brown rice in 2 cups of water to add to your soup, or serve it with whatever side you like. I prefer the brown rice to white, but that's an option too. ENJOY!


8 comments:

  1. If it tastes half as great as it looks it has to be delish! Yumm! I bet it smelled up the house nicely too :)

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  2. man jennifer... you are a foodie too... wish i had more time to create.

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  3. I'm so glad - I hope you enjoy. I'd never heard the term "foodie" before. ;)

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  4. Your soup looks amazing, and so flavorful! Bet it's out of this world good! But I really love that bowl, is it Polish pottery? Very pretty!

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  5. Sounds delicious! Love the photos too!

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  6. Mmm, I love Thai flavored soup. This looks yummy!

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  7. Hi thanks for popping by! I'm so excited to browse your blog just from this post! I love Thai food and have never tried this soup. But it sounds amazing, so thanks for sharing! I will have to try the recipe soon!

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