Tom Kha Gai: Homemade Thai Soup

During these cold winter months, Whitney really likes soup. Me, I don't really like soup. It's just, you know, eh. Except the Thai classic, Tom Kha Gai. This soup is amazing. Not even a soup, it's more like a flavor explosion. And if you add the Thai chilies the recipe calls for, explosion is the key word. Like face melting explosion. (I even burned my eye balls taking out my contacts hours later. Had to wear my glasses for two days. Yikes.)  Anyway, I came across this recipe in one of the dozens of daily foodie newsletters that somehow get delivered to my email inbox every morning. It popped out. I love this soup. And knowing Whitney likes soup, I decided that Sunday was the perfect day for homemade Tom Kah Gai. Plus, she had never had it before! Which is a bonus as she had no idea what it really tastes like in case I screwed it up. So off to Fubon Asian Supermarket we went to procure supplies. Lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce (nam pla), kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk, mmmmm. All the ingredients home and 20 minutes later we had amazing soup! (Ok, ok, Whitney would like to point out here that I had a couple beers while chopping up the ingredients and studying the recipe before actually making it. Details, details.) But the point is, it can be made in 20 minutes. Super easy too! 

I hope you all give it a whirl. It's awesome and delicious. Finding the ingredients might be the hardest part, but tracking them down is half the fun! We also made a delicious cucumber salad with rice wine vinegar, cilantro and a touch of sugar that thankfully cooled down our palates from the spicy chilies. 

Here's the recipe I found from Fine Cooking. Enjoy! Or as they say in Thailand, เพลิดเพลิน!