I will probably never make this again. It was delicious, but such a pain. Galangal can go to h-e-double-hockey-stick.
Anyway, if you would also like to make three trips to various grocery stores to find slightly more obscure ingredients, get home, realize you forgot one, go back, and then come home once more to spend the next hour or so making a huge mess in your kitchen, here are the recipes. (It *is* delicious, but honestly, I will probably just order takeout next time.)
Tom Kha Gai
– 2 cups chicken stock, unsalted, preferably homemade
– 1 ½ cups coconut milk
– 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or half the amount of table salt
– 1 lb chicken thigh, boneless skinless, bite-sized pieces
– 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom half only, smashed and cut into 2-inch pieces
– 12 thin slices galangal
– 5 makrut lime leaves, roughly torn into big chunks, center stems removed
– 3-4 Thai chilies, bruised or cut into large pieces
– 2 tablespoon fish sauce
– 1 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar, or granulated sugar
– 5.5 oz oyster mushrooms
– 2 ½ tablespoons of lime juice
chopped green onion and/or cilantro, for garnish
Bring chicken stock to a boil, then add salt and chicken. Let simmer gently until the chicken is fork tender.
Add coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, chilies, about half of the fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes to infuse.
Add the mushrooms, bring back to a simmer, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until cooked through.
Taste and add more fish sauce as needed. Turn off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, then taste and add more as needed. Top with green onions and/or cilantro.
Pad Thai sauce
– 2 tablespoons of oil, 1.75 oz chopped garlic
– 4 oz chopped shallot
– 4.9 oz palm sugar
– ¾ – 1 cup of tamarind paste
– ½ cup fish sauce
– chili flakes
In a medium sized pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and shallots, and saute until soft and translucent – about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the pot.
Return the pot to the stove over medium heat, then add the palm sugar and let it cook until it melts; pressing on any hard chunks to help them dissolve more quickly. After it melts, let it cook a little further until it caramelizes into a slightly darker brown for a richer flavour, being careful not to let it get too dark.
Turn off the heat then add the tamarind paste; it will bubble aggressively and the sugar will harden initially. Turn the heat back on low to help the sugar dissolve and add the fish sauce. Turn off the heat after the sugar is mostly dissolved; don’t worry about a few chunks left over, they will dissolve eventually.
Stir the garlic and shallots back in and let cool. You can also add the chili flakes at this stage if you wish to make it spicy.
Measure the volume of the sauce by pouring it into a liquid measuring cup. Divide the volume by 8 to get the amount of sauce you need per serving (if using my pad thai recipe). Write this number down and tape it to the container of the sauce, also note on the label that you need to add 1 ½ tablespoon of water per serving when you cook.
Pad Thai recipe
– 8 ounces flat rice noodles cooked al dente according to package instructions
– 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast – pounded to ½ inch thickness and chopped into bite-sized pieces
– salt & pepper (to taste)
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
– ⅓ cup sliced green onions
– ¼ cup sliced white onions
– ⅓ cup cilantro – roughly chopped
optional: peanuts
– Sauce (to taste) from recipe above
Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
Cook chicken in a large wok or pan over medium heat, stirring throughout until cooked through (about 6-8 minutes), transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside.
Whisk together all sauce ingredients and set aside.
Crack eggs over preheated pan (where you cooked the chicken) and allow to fry for about a minute, then break it up with a spoon and add the onions and bean sprouts.
Add chicken and sauce. Add noodles and toss to coat the noodles in the sauce.
Stir in green onions and cilantro. Garnish with peanuts and lime wedges if desired.
Dusk-Monkey on
Plate looks professional, well done!
BreakingBadYo on
They look beautiful and delicious. Part of the problem is you cooked and shopped on the same day. Perhaps split those tasks by a day or two. Also, learn substitutions for things. Wing it a bit. Such as Meyer’s lemon juice instead of lemongrass. There are no food police lol except on here.
Also, watch people cook simple versions of the recipe on YouTube. Some can put things together quickly and easily. It’s one way to gain confidence. Watch old Julia Child videos. She’s funny and charming and she made plenty of mistakes but Oh Well!
3 Comments
I will probably never make this again. It was delicious, but such a pain. Galangal can go to h-e-double-hockey-stick.
Anyway, if you would also like to make three trips to various grocery stores to find slightly more obscure ingredients, get home, realize you forgot one, go back, and then come home once more to spend the next hour or so making a huge mess in your kitchen, here are the recipes. (It *is* delicious, but honestly, I will probably just order takeout next time.)
Tom Kha Gai
– 2 cups chicken stock, unsalted, preferably homemade
– 1 ½ cups coconut milk
– 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or half the amount of table salt
– 1 lb chicken thigh, boneless skinless, bite-sized pieces
– 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom half only, smashed and cut into 2-inch pieces
– 12 thin slices galangal
– 5 makrut lime leaves, roughly torn into big chunks, center stems removed
– 3-4 Thai chilies, bruised or cut into large pieces
– 2 tablespoon fish sauce
– 1 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar, or granulated sugar
– 5.5 oz oyster mushrooms
– 2 ½ tablespoons of lime juice
chopped green onion and/or cilantro, for garnish
Bring chicken stock to a boil, then add salt and chicken. Let simmer gently until the chicken is fork tender.
Add coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, chilies, about half of the fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes to infuse.
Add the mushrooms, bring back to a simmer, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until cooked through.
Taste and add more fish sauce as needed. Turn off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, then taste and add more as needed. Top with green onions and/or cilantro.
Pad Thai sauce
– 2 tablespoons of oil, 1.75 oz chopped garlic
– 4 oz chopped shallot
– 4.9 oz palm sugar
– ¾ – 1 cup of tamarind paste
– ½ cup fish sauce
– chili flakes
In a medium sized pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and shallots, and saute until soft and translucent – about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the pot.
Return the pot to the stove over medium heat, then add the palm sugar and let it cook until it melts; pressing on any hard chunks to help them dissolve more quickly. After it melts, let it cook a little further until it caramelizes into a slightly darker brown for a richer flavour, being careful not to let it get too dark.
Turn off the heat then add the tamarind paste; it will bubble aggressively and the sugar will harden initially. Turn the heat back on low to help the sugar dissolve and add the fish sauce. Turn off the heat after the sugar is mostly dissolved; don’t worry about a few chunks left over, they will dissolve eventually.
Stir the garlic and shallots back in and let cool. You can also add the chili flakes at this stage if you wish to make it spicy.
Measure the volume of the sauce by pouring it into a liquid measuring cup. Divide the volume by 8 to get the amount of sauce you need per serving (if using my pad thai recipe). Write this number down and tape it to the container of the sauce, also note on the label that you need to add 1 ½ tablespoon of water per serving when you cook.
Pad Thai recipe
– 8 ounces flat rice noodles cooked al dente according to package instructions
– 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast – pounded to ½ inch thickness and chopped into bite-sized pieces
– salt & pepper (to taste)
– 2 eggs
– 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
– ⅓ cup sliced green onions
– ¼ cup sliced white onions
– ⅓ cup cilantro – roughly chopped
optional: peanuts
– Sauce (to taste) from recipe above
Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
Cook chicken in a large wok or pan over medium heat, stirring throughout until cooked through (about 6-8 minutes), transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside.
Whisk together all sauce ingredients and set aside.
Crack eggs over preheated pan (where you cooked the chicken) and allow to fry for about a minute, then break it up with a spoon and add the onions and bean sprouts.
Add chicken and sauce. Add noodles and toss to coat the noodles in the sauce.
Stir in green onions and cilantro. Garnish with peanuts and lime wedges if desired.
Plate looks professional, well done!
They look beautiful and delicious. Part of the problem is you cooked and shopped on the same day. Perhaps split those tasks by a day or two. Also, learn substitutions for things. Wing it a bit. Such as Meyer’s lemon juice instead of lemongrass. There are no food police lol except on here.
Also, watch people cook simple versions of the recipe on YouTube. Some can put things together quickly and easily. It’s one way to gain confidence. Watch old Julia Child videos. She’s funny and charming and she made plenty of mistakes but Oh Well!