recipes – the unsettled beat

It’s been a while since I’ve tried a new recipe, but I figured it’s about time I test out my Thai cooking skills since I’ll be living there in a few weeks. So I decided to try my hand at tom kha gai. It’s a tangy/spicy coconut soup! I think it’s usually made with chicken, but I altered the recipe to make it vegetarian. Here’s the recipe I followed.

Ingredients:

1 1″ piece ginger, peeled

2 stalks fresh lemon grass, tough outer layers removed

1 tbsp lime zest

1/4 cup lime juice

6 cups vegetable broth

1 package extra firm tofu

8 oz assorted mushrooms, cut into bite-size pieces

1 13.5 oz can coconut milk

2 tbsp fish sauce (or more to taste)

1 tsp sugar

chili oil, cilantro leaves (individual servings, to taste)

Preparation:

Cut lemon grass stalks into approximately 3″ segments. Peel ginger. Smash both lemon grass and ginger with the back of a knife. Toss lemon grass and ginger into a pot with your lime zest and juice and the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 9 minutes. Strain out the solids from your broth and put the broth back in the pan.

the process

Cut tofu into cubes. Add to broth and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and add mushrooms. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Mix in coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar.