Recipe by Chef Heidi Fink
Lemongrass Coconut Chicken Soup
- Prep time 30 mins
- Cook time 20 mins
- Ready in 50 mins
- Yield Serves 4 to 6
This soup has a long list of ingredients, but takes only about 20 minutes of cooking time for an amazing flavour explosion.
Ingredients
- Flavoured Broth
- Soup
- Garnish
Directions
- Prepare the lemongrass. Trim off the root end, and trim off the top part of the lemongrass. You want only to use the thicker part of the lemongrass, so about 4 inches from the root upwards. Cut these into small pieces and crush them lightly with something heavy (e.g. the bottom of a small pot) to release the fragrance of the lemongrass.
- In a soup pot, heat the oil. Add the prepared shallot, garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. Sauté for about 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. but not browning. Add the curry paste, and optional turmeric. Sauté about 30 seconds more, until fragrant. Immediately add the broth and water. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
- Add the optional lime leaves and simmer 2 to 3 minutes more.
- Strain the broth into a large bowl, keeping the liquid and discarding the solids. Clean out the soup pot and return it to the heat.
- Add the strained broth back to the pot. Open the cans of coconut milk and the scoop the coconut milk into the pot. Add the fish sauce (or salt) and bring to a boil.
- Stir in the chicken (make sure it is sliced very thin), the prepared mushrooms, and the prepared red bell pepper. Simmer the soup for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
- Stir in the sugar and the sliced spinach and stir well. Add the fresh lime juice, if using. Taste the soup to see if the soup needs to have more fish sauce (salty taste) and serve immediately, making sure than every bowl has some of each of the garnishes.
Variations
1. Substitute Thai galangal for the ginger, for a more traditional taste.
2. Add some thinly sliced shallots and lime leaves to the soup along with the chicken and mushrooms for a textural contrast.
3. Use any other mushroom in place of the oyster mushroom.
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