TOM KHA GAI AND TOP CHEF G.

 

Hi folks, my name is Chef G, and I'm as happy as a hockey player on freshly Zambonied ice to welcome you back to the 48th episode of the world's most amazing food blog--The Chef G. Cooking Channel.  Viewers, readers, and critics alike continue to shower my program with praise, respect, admiration, and general expressions of love . . .  and rightly so.  Heck, I'm pretty sure that even the celebrity chefs on other cooking channels are insanely jealous of my improbable success.

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Today, I will be venturing into the world of Thai cuisine for the very first time.  I've been wanting to make Thai Coconut Chicken Soup ever since I heard such a thing existed.  In Thailand, they call it Tom Kha Gai, and the interesting combination of ingredients sounded too delicious to resist.

As you know, I'm a pretty humble guy--especially when it comes to discussing my incredibly awesome chef skills.  But today I'm going to have to brag a little bit.  Let me just say that my rendition of Tom Kha Gai turned out the be the best Tom Kha Gai in Tom Kha Gai history.  

Okay, I have to admit this is not the time to be modest.  I might as well go ahead and shout out the truth: My Tom Kha Gai turned out to be the best soup of ANY kind ever cooked by ANYbody in the history of soups!  As soon as I publish this recipe (which will be in a few minutes) I'm probably going to be getting calls from Thai chefs from all over the world for permission to use it in their own restaurants.  And just to prove that I'm as generous as I am humble, I'll be willing to sell the rights to the highest bidder.

Anyway, I'm going to show you how to make my new favorite soup by way of the following photo-documentary:

First, cut two chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and brown them in a frying pan.

Did you know the Thai word for chicken is "Gai?"  I took this picture of two gai(s) that had wandered onto my dad's driveway when I was down in Iowa last week. 

While the gai is sauteing, you can select a nice red hot chili pepper, cut some fresh ginger root into 1/4" x 1/2" pieces, chop two cloves of garlic, slice 1/4 of a large onion, and prepare a large stalk of lemongrass.
 

Throw all those aromatic vegetables into a tablespoon of hot oil and saute for five minutes.  (I had coconut oil on hand, but I'm pretty sure olive oil will produce fine results as well.)

After the five minutes, add a quart of gai broth to the mixture of onions, garlic, chili pepper, ginger and lemongrass.  I should have boiled a gai carcass for a few hours to make my own broth, but I didn't plan that far ahead.  Instead, I used a box of Swanson's Chicken (gai) Broth.

While the broth simmered with the aromatics, I continued with the next preparations. 

I squeezed the crap out of a half-lime to produce 3 tablespoons of lime juice.  I saved the other half of the lime to garnish the soup.

I opened two cans of Thai coconut milk.  It was another shortcut--like my chicken broth shortcut.  I just didn't feel like squeezing the crap out of a fresh coconut for four cups of coconut milk.  If you want to do that, have at it.  Another concession I made to authenticity is that I used two tablespoons of soy sauce instead of two tablespoons of fish sauce.  Mrs. Chef G. is allergic to fish products, so that substitution was necessary if I wanted her to enjoy my Tom Kha Gai too. 

I also started chopping the garnishes for my soup:  cilantro, green onion, and the other half of the lime I mentioned earlier.  Thank goodness my gigantic brain remembered at the last minute to slice a cup of fresh mushrooms.  I damn near forgot that important ingredient. 

After simmering for 30 minutes, I strained the aromatics out of the broth.  Then I poured the clear broth back into the soup pot and raised the heat.

That's when I poured the coconut milk, the lime juice, the gai (chicken), the soy sauce, and the 'shrooms into the pot.

The aromas emanating from my kitchen attracted animals from near and far.  Here is a squirrel who came to my back porch to check out the deliciousness.

After about ten minutes of simmering, it was time to ladle out a couple bowlfuls for Mrs. Chef G. and me.  I added a lime slice and a bit of cilantro & green onion to each bowl for garnish, and prepared to dig in.

Don't let the boring beige and green appearance fool you.  This soup was sweet, sour, spicy, zesty, savory, citrusy, herbaceous, tenacious, chunky, and slurp-worthy all at the same time.  What a combination of flavors!

It's no surprise that I gave my delicious dish a "thumbs-up" rating, but I can't believe my team of editors didn't catch the mis-spelling of "Kha" on my chef's hat. 

Before concluding this fine episode of The Chef G. Cooking Channel, I have to prepare you for the next fine episode.  It will be another Thai dish, partly because this Thai dish was so delicious, but also partly because I received a comment from a fellow chef from Australia who mentioned something called Pad Kee Mao.  That was a few months ago, but I just remembered it now.  I looked up Pad Kee Mao and it almost looks too good to be true.  Never let it be said that I don't take recommendations.