''Tom kha kai'', ''tom kha gai'', or Thai coconut soup ( th, ต้มข่าไก่, ; ) is a spicy and sour hot soup with

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine ( th, อาหารไทย, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong Odor, aromatic components and a spicy edge. Australian chef David Thompson (chef), David ...

Ingredients

In Thailand, most ''tom kha kai'' recipes typically include

galangal Galangal () is a common name for several tropical rhizomatous spices. Differentiation The word ''galangal'', or its variant ''galanga'' or archaically ''galingale'', can refer in common usage to the aromatic rhizome of any of four plant spec ...

(sometimes substituted with

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

), kaffir lime leaves,

lemongrass ''Cymbopogon'', also known as lemongrass, barbed wire grass, silky heads, Cochin grass, Malabar grass, oily heads, citronella grass or fever grass, is a genus of Asian, African, Australian, and tropical island plants in the grass family. Some ...

Thai chili Bird's eye chili or Thai chili (Thai: ''prik ki nu'', พริกขี้หนู, literally "mouse dung chili" owing to its shape) is a chili pepper, a variety from the species ''Capsicum annuum'' native to Mexico. Cultivated across Southea ...

coriander Coriander (;

(or

dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

straw mushrooms ''Volvariella volvacea'' (also known as paddy straw mushroom or straw mushroom) is a species of edible mushroom cultivated throughout East and Southeast Asia and used extensively in Asian cuisines. They are often available fresh in regions they ...

(or

shiitake The shiitake (alternate form shitake) (; ''Lentinula edodes'') is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is now cultivated and consumed around the globe. It is considered a Medicinal fungi, medicinal mushroom in some forms of tradition ...

or other mushrooms),

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, P ...

, and

lime juice A lime (from French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles. There are several species of citrus trees ...

. Fried chilies are sometimes added.

Variations

In a Thai-style ''tom kha kai'',

dill weed Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growt ...

is not used, whereas in a Lao-style ''tom kha kai'', dill weed (''phak si'', lo, ຜັກຊີ) is used. Dill weed is a common herb used in

Lao cuisine Lao cuisine or Laotian cuisine ( lo, ອາຫານລາວ) is the national cuisine of Laos. The staple food of the Lao is sticky rice ( lo, ເຂົ້າໜຽວ, khao niao). Laos has the highest sticky rice consumption per-capita i ...

. The Thais' answer to dill weed (known in Thailand as ''phak chi Lao'' ( th, ผักชีลาว), since it is known locally as a Lao herb) in Thai ''tom kha'' is

coriander Coriander (;

or cilantro (''phak chi'', th, ผักชี). There are other versions of ''tom kha kai'' made with seafood (''tom kha thale'', th, ต้มข่าทะเล), mushrooms (''tom kha het'', th, ต้มข่าเห็ด), pork (''tom kha mu'', th, ต้มข่าหมู) and tofu (''tom kha taohu'', th, ต้มข่าเต้าหู้). In the late 19th century, ''tom kha'' was not a soup. It was a dish of chicken or duck simmered in a light coconut broth with a generous amount of galangal. It was served with a basic roasted chilli jam as a dipping relish.

Gallery

File:Tom kha kai at a restaurant.jpg, ''Tom kha kai'' at a restaurant File:Soup Bowl (cropped).jpg, ''Tom kha kai'' File:Chiang Mai, Thailand, Tom Kha, Thai coconut soup.jpg, ''Tom kha'', Thai coconut soup,

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

Ingredients

Variations

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading