ต้มข่า, tôm khàa/tom kha – Vegetarian Thai Coconut Soup – A jumping off place.
So it took me forever to track down decent translations of the Thai words ต้มข่า, tôm khàa, or ‘boiled/soup galangal’. You see you don’t ever see them alone. It’s always ต้มข่าไก่, tôm khàa kài, ‘galangal soup with chicken.’ But I don’t want ‘with chicken’!
What I wanted to make available was a vegetarian Thai coconut soup base that can than be adjusted with one’s protein of choice. What you have below is just that.
Next you can decide what, if any, type of protein you would like to fill it out with:
- Add chicken and substitute chicken stock and you have tôm khàa kài. (ต้มข่าไก่)
- Use beef and you have tom kha nui.
- Substitute seafood and now it’s tom kha thale. (ต้มข่าทะเล)
- With pork it’s tom kha mu. (ต้มข่าหมู)
- Substitute mushroom broth and you get tom kha het. (ต้มข่าเห็ด)
- And of course there is a tofu version tom kha taohu. (ต้มข่าเต้าหู้)
It is interesting to note that back in the 19th century tôm khà referred not to a soup, but to a dish of chicken or duck boiled in a light coconut broth and a heap of galangal. Simple evolution, really.
With this recipe in particular I would be really interested to know how you decided to make it. Post a comment below or even better, snap a photo and share it on our Facebook page!
Thai Coconut Soup Base
By:semiserious chefs
Serves:4-6
Ingredients:
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 1 T lime juice
- 2 t oyster sauce (optional: substitute 1/2 t sugar)
- 4 Thai kaffir lime leaves*
- 1 t dried galangal*
- 1 stick of lemon grass cut into thin rings
- 1 green onion chopped into rings
- 1/4 chopped cilantro stems, plus tops for garnish
- 6 Chinese chilies (or other spice source, more or less to preference)
- half of a 15 oz can of straw mushrooms and liquid
- OR One 6.5 oz can chopped button mushrooms with liquid
- Thai basil* and/or mint for garnish
* galangal, Thai basil, and kaffir lime leaves can be found at some specialty markets, but especially at Asian and International Markets. I used dry galangal that our grocery store health food department carried, but if you use fresh the typical ratio is 3-to-1 fresh-to-dried, so about 1 T fresh galangal. It can also be left out, but that does make the name ต้มข่า, tôm khàa, or ‘boiled/soup galangal’ a little bit of a misnomer. Eh, do what works for you. It’s for you after all!
Directions:
- Other than a little time spent prepping the vegetables this soup is very easy to make. I might suggest crushing the chilies with the side of your knife, and making a single short snip into the kaffir leaves to bring out their flavors.
- Add the greens, leaves, galangal, chilies, and mushrooms to a pot with the stock, water, coconut cream, lime juice, and oyster sauce. Bring to a simmer over medium heat with a lid, for 20 minutes.
- Offer generous amounts of chopped cilantro, Thai basil, and/or mint at the table for garnishing as desired. Having favorite Asian condiments and hot sauces available for personalizing one’s dish is also common practice.
Additional Options:
- A side of white rice is traditional, but rice noodles are also a great compliment.
- If you choose to add a protein be sure to simmer your soup until all meats are fully cooked. You can substitute the stock of it’s type for the vegetarian stock as desired.
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