Smoked chicken, wild mushrooms, sweet basil, coconut & galangal soup

Known as ‘tom ka gai’, this soup is simple to assemble, yet contains such a complex and harmonious collection of sweet, salty, sour and spicy notes.

It only takes a few ingredients and around 10-15 minutes to make. All of the ingredients can be found easily in most supermarkets these days. This soup is also delicious using prawns instead of chicken, given the option I would still use smoked chicken stock with the prawns as the richness of the chicken stock makes for a delicious final product. To lift this exceptional bowl of soup to new heights garnish with a generous few tablespoons of nahm prik pao, chilli jam (recipe here) before serving.

Serves 2 / Vegetarian option (in brackets)

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, skin and fat removed, sliced into rough 2cm by 2cm pieces , directions for smoking in recipe
1/4 butternut squash, roughly 50g, peeled and sliced into rough
2cm by 2cm pieces (pumpkin can be used instead)
8 Thai Shallots, peeled and slightly bruised in a pestle
2 green birds eye chillies, bruised in a pestle
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn slightly
2 sticks lemongrass, chopped into 2 cm long
pieces and bruised in a pestle
10g, galangal, peeled and chopped into 2 cm
long pieces and bruised in a pestle
2 coriander roots, cleaned, washed and bruised in a pestle
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce (soy sauce if vegetarian)
200ml chicken stock (vegetable stock if vegetarian)
300ml coconut cream
10g, Thai sweet basil (normal basil will do)
50g, assorted wild mushrooms
(I use enoki, shittaki and emoji mushrooms)
1 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons nahm prik pao, chilli jam (for garnish)

Method

Before I get started with the recipe I’ll delve a little into explaining how to smoke the chicken. In this recipe I cold smoke my chicken which can be done very easily when you’re at home. This means that I will be adding the smoke flavour from the wood to the meat, without cooking it. All you need is some smoking wood chips, a large deep pan, a colander (that can sit upon the pan) and some cling film. Place a small handful of wood chips into the pan and heat the pan up until the wood chips set alight within the pan. Leave the wood chips alight for 10 seconds so they start to burn hot. Once hot put the flames out with a little water, this will cause the chips to smoke heavily.

Now quickly place the chicken in the colander and then sit the colander upon the smoking pan, then quickly cling film the whole thing so it is air tight with no smoke leaving the cling film. This will leave the chicken inside a smoke vacuum, with minimal oxygen so the wood chips will not remain hot but will impart a delicious smoked flavour over time. If left untouched for at least 2 hours (ideally overnight) the smokey flavour would have penetrated the meat, the longer you leave it the smokier the flavour.

1. Firstly, in a small sauce pan bring a little water to the boil and then submerge the squash into it, then turn down to a simmer, continue to gently cook for around 3-4 minutes until soft but not quite cooked and then remove from the heat and put aside for a few minutes (at this stage you might as well leave it in the hot water as we are to use it straight away).

2. Next place the chicken stock, 100ml of the coconut cream, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, sea salt, galangal, coriander roots, birds eye chillies, lemongrass, lime leaves, butternut squash and Thai shallots and mushrooms into a medium sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Once simmering add the chicken pieces and continue to cook gently for 4-5 minutes until all chicken is cooked and all vegetables have softened with flavours infused.

3. Finish by adding the rest of the coconut cream and the sweet basil and the dishing out into bowls. Half the chilli jam over each portion of soup to garnish. Lastly check the seasoning, it should be creamy, salty, a little spicy, aromatic with a fresh hint of lime at the end, adjust to suit your own tastes.

Thanks very much for reading and I hope you enjoy the recipe as it’s a personal favourite of mine. It’s delicious served with steamed jasmine rice, I like to spoon my rice into my soup bowl and let it soak up a little soup before eating- a seriously delicious combination!

See you next time,

Cheers,

Sebbyholmes