How to make coconut milk, shrimp Thai soup?

Question

I live in Europe now, and the restaurants charge an obscene amount for some soups, especially this very flavorful Thai soup made with coconut milk, shrimp, ginger, lemon grass, and some other ingredients about which I am not completely certain.

I would like to attempt to make this at home. The Thai soup here is a good mix of flavors. It is tangy, spicy, and at once both a bit sweet and sour. It is not just one dominating flavor.

Please, I'm not the most experienced cook, so in your instructions, please be specific about everything. For example, specify cooking times, whether I need to buy something fresh, or if it is available canned, etc. I don't think I'll have trouble getting the ingredients; there are asian markets here in Prague, and somewhere they must have lemon grass.

I would like to make eight portions to start, because that would translate into maybe 5-6 larger bowls of the soup.

Answer 1

1 pound medium shrimp - peeled and deveined

2 (13.5 ounce) cans canned coconut milk

2 cups water

1 (1 inch) piece galangal, thinly sliced

4 stalks lemon grass, bruised and chopped

10 kaffir lime leaves, torn in half

1 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup lime juice

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 tablespoon green onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil the shrimp until cooked, about one minute. Drain shrimp, and set aside.

Pour the coconut milk and 2 cups of water in a large saucepan; bring to a simmer. Add the galangal, lemon grass, and lime leaves; simmer for 10 minutes, or until the flavors are infused. Strain the coconut milk into a new pan and discard the spices. Simmer the shiitake mushrooms in the coconut milk for five minutes. Stir in the lime juice, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Season to taste with curry powder.

To serve, reheat shrimp in the soup, and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with green onion and red pepper flakes.

Answer 2

You must be talking about the soup at Lemon Leaf?

I loved it when I lived in Prague and then lived in Thailand and had it there.

My friend and I have been on a mission to recreate the Lemon Leaf recipe. Very strange to sit around Thailand craving a soup that was better in Prague. lol!

This recipe is the closest I can come to duplicating it:

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~hollin/index...

I would double that recipe for 8 servings.

This is fish sauce, they should have it at the asian market. You can use soy, but it'll taste a bit different:

http://importfood.com/sati7501.html

That website will ship things to Prague for an exorbitant price.

This market is really good:

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2007/05/...

I doubt you will find galangal, so regular ginger will do. For the lemongrass, I used lemongrass paste--which I'm pretty sure they have in a tube at Carrefour at Andel. Or they did... Serrano chilis can be used in place of Thai ones, they may be hard to find.

I also like to go a little heavy on the lime and squeeze some juice in the soup at the end. Also, white pepper instead of black is yummy in it.

Good luck--I hope this is what you are looking for :)

Answer 3

3 cups chicken stock

1 stalk lemongrass, sliced thinly and minced (tough outer leaves and bulb removed)

3 kaffir lime leaves (find these in the freezer section of your local Asian grocery store)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 red chilies (depending on desired spiciness), sliced (and de-seeded, if less "heat" is desired)

1/3 cup fresh coriander (or cilantro), roughly chopped

2 Tbsp. fish sauce (available at all Asian/Chinese food stores and some grocery store chains)

a handful of fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly

12 medium or large raw shrimp, shells removed

1 can good-quality coconut milk, OR 1 more cup good-quality stock, 1/4 cup lime juice, + 1-2 tsp. sugar (to taste)

optional: additional red chilies (left whole), plus other vegetables like cherry tomatoes or bell peppers, as desired

PREPARATION:

1. Pour stock into a deep cooking pot.

2. Place lemongrass slices in a food processor and process until finely grated, or pound by hand with a pestle & mortar and add to the broth

3. Add garlic, chilies (including whole chilies, if using) and lime leaves. Bring to a boil.

4. Add the mushrooms and shrimp. Boil for 8-10 minutes.

5. Turn down the heat to low and add the coconut milk (or stock mixture) plus fish sauce. Stir well to combine. Test the soup for spice and salt, adding more chillies and/or fish sauce (instead of salt) as desired. If too spicy for your taste, add more coconut milk.

6. Serve in bowls with fresh coriander sprinkled over and quarters of fresh lime on the side. For an extra hit of flavor, you can also add some Thai chili sauce, either store-bought or your own homemade Nam Prik Pao Chili Sauce Recipe. ENJOY!

or/

3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 cup bottled clam juice

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced fresh ginger

3/4 teaspoon red curry paste

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

1/2 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp

1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 (3-ounce) package trimmed snow peas

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons (1/2-inch) sliced green onion tops

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk

Preparation

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large Dutch oven, stirring with a whisk. Add mushrooms; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes. Add the shrimp, chicken, and snow peas; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes.

Stir in lime juice and remaining ingredients. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: about 2 cups)

or/

This is a mild but spicy chicken soup (it can also be made with shrimp, pork, beef or mushrooms),

flavored with the very unique flavor of galangal ("kha" in Thai) which creates a heavenly taste

when combined with hot chile peppers, coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass.

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces soup broth (chicken stock)

4-5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

4 or 5 2 inch pieces fresh lemongrass, bruised to release flavor

1 inch cube (or a bit more) galangal sliced thinly.

4 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

4 oz chicken breast cut into smallish bite sized pieces

5 fluid ounces coconut milk

small red Thai chile peppers, slightly crushed (to taste)

coriander (cilantro) leaves to garnish.

Note the number of red peppers is a personal choice. It can be as few as half a chilli per diner, to

as many as 8-10 per diner, but the dish should retain a balance of flavors and not be overwhelmend

by the chili peppers. We suggest about 8-12 chili peppers for this recipe.

Method

Heat the stock, add the lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, and lime juice. Stir thoroughly,

bring to a boil, and add the chicken and coconut milk, then the chile peppers. Bring back to the boil,

lower the heat to keep it simmering and cook for about 2 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through).

Enjoy!

Not really intended to be eaten as a separate course, we like it served ladled over a bowl of steamed

Thai jasmine rice. This quantity serves 4 with other food, but is probably only enough for two if eaten

separately.

Answer 4

Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1 stalk lemon grass, minced

2 teaspoons red curry paste

4 cups chicken broth

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

3 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk

1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 pound medium shrimp - peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

salt to taste

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste in the heated oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the mixture, stirring continually. Stir in the fish sauce and brown sugar; simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and mushrooms; cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp; cook until no longer translucent about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice; season with salt; garnish with cilantro.

Answer 5

The dish you are after is called Tom Kha which is usually made with chicken (Gai) or Prawns ( Goong). it is a really easy and simple Thai dish to make and if done right is a taste sensation.

The first recipe is for Gai but for Goong just substitute fresh green (uncooked) prawns where it says chicken. The next is another version.

Galangal can be substituted with ginger.

Fish sauce is made from fermented anchovies and is essential to Thai cooking. There is NO substitute that I know of that could equal it's flavour. Thai cooking is a balance between hot, sour, sweet and salty. The salt coming primarily from the fish sauce. Try looking for a bottle that has a squid on it. It is one brand that is exported widely and one that I would recommend.

Answer 6

I'm not going to put in a recipe because other people have done that very well. In fact I'm going to make some of them, but about Fish Sauce...it's just called Fish Sauce. The brand I have in the fridge is Maggi which we just bought at the local supermarket but ANY Asian grocery or market would sell it as it's in many Asian recipes.

Answer 7

You have a lot of recipes so I will address the fish sauce part of the question...if there is no Asian market to buy fish sauce substitute Worcestershire sauce...it has anchovies in it and is very similar...

Answer 8

Oh hay look, copy & pasting other peoples' entire recipes above.  

Easier to do that without copyright infringement/little work on Answerer's parts and breaking the rules of Y!A by looking it up on Google.