Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup)

Use the spine of your knife and bruise lemongrass stalks. Then, slice lemongrass at an angle to prevent damaging the knife.
Take your shallots and slice the top and bottom off. Cut them in half and peel off skin. Roughly slice each shallot about ¼ inch thick.
Leaving the skin on, carefully slice galangal (or ginger if you need to).
Remove stems from thai chilis and slice ¼ inch thick. Then quarter your cup of cremini mushrooms.
Take your chicken breasts and cut into 1-inch cubes.
Heat 1 ½ Tbsp of a neutral tasting oil in a 6 to 8 quart pot over medium-low heat.
Add all of your vegetables to the pot, except your mushrooms and sweat them while stirring often for 3-5 minutes or until fragrant.
Add full fat coconut milk, chicken stock and kaffir lime leaves; give it a quick stir.
Bring pot up to a high heat, and once it starts to get close to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
Strain liquid through a fine mesh pressing firmly to push out flavor from aromatics.
Pour strained liquid back into a clean pot, bringing it back up to a simmer over medium-low heat. Add in chicken and mushrooms, letting it simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Add in stalks of thai basil and more kaffir lime leaves and let steep like a tea. Season with palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.
Garnish with fresh thai basil and cilantro.

Ingredients (17)