thai chicken soup per cook’s illustrated
3 lemongrasss stalks (could add a bit more if using 1.5 lbs of chicken)
3 lg shallots (emphasis on the large)
8 24 sprigs Cilantro
Serranos/jalapenos
kaffir lime leaves
3 TBSP fish sauce
2 tsp red curry paste (if aroy-d brand, more like 4 TBSP)
4 cups chx broth
1 2 TBSP sugar (thai date palm sugar)
2 cans coconut milk
1/2 lb white
1 can peeled straw mushrooms
1 lb chx
3 TBSP lime juice
Garnish
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 serrano chiles , sliced thin
2 scallions , sliced thin on bias
1 lime , cut into wedges
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until just shimmering. Add lemon grass, shallots, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon fish sauce; cook, stirring frequently, until just softened, 2 to 5 minutes (vegetables should not brown). Stir in chicken broth and 1 can coconut milk; bring to simmer over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until flavors have blended, 10 minutes. Pour broth through fine-mesh strainer and discard solids in strainer. Rinse saucepan and return broth mixture to pan.
2. Return pan to medium-high heat. Stir remaining can coconut milk and sugar into broth mixture and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium, add mushrooms, and cook until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly, until no longer pink, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove soup from heat.
3. Combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining 2 tablespoons fish sauce in small bowl; stir into soup. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro, chiles, and scallions. Serve immediately with lime wedges.
made it tonight after not making it for a long time. 3.5 sticks of lemongrass. half a bunch of cilantro. 3 keffir lime leaves. 1.25 lbs chicken cut into tiny pieces, 2 cans of straw mushrooms, 3 TBSP of mae ploy, 2 TBSP of palm sugar as indicated, 2 jalapenos from the garden (they were hot but not too hot), 3 cups of homemade broth because it’s usually too runny with not enough “stuff,” and no added salt. it was actually the perfect heat and the perfect sweetness because we decreased the broth. i added more raw jalapenos and my nose ran and i was happy. perfectly happy.
ha ha! nailed the sweetness, but heated the soup too high and the coconut milk separated. :( also, used 2 TBSP of aroy-d and 1 TBSP + 1 tsp of mae ploy curry. so not hot enough! i ended up eating raw serranos to fill the heat gap.
post-consumption report: the soup had a nice burn, thanks to adding fresh jalapenos and eating most of them. 4 TBSP of curry paste is probably ideal. m likes japanese medium grain rice in this soup. it also needed some salt (i used reduced sodium chx broth and forgot to salt it) and a bit more sugar.
i *so* wish that i had read this post and these comments before i made soup again today. i certainly added more of everything to the broth. when i finished off the soup, the broth was a light green. awesome. i sliced 4 jalapenos into the broth and it was nice and spicy before i added the mushrooms and chicken. again, i had 1.5 lbs of chicken so i should’ve added a little bit more of everything in the beginning. also, i remember the soup being too tame last time, so i made sure to add 3 TBSP of curry paste. i thought i was being bold but turns out the soup only has a mild burn. not enough for my new spicy taste buds!!! arrrrrgggghhhhh!
99 ranch was out of mae ploy red curry paste so i had to improvise with aroy-d red curry paste. i only added 1 TBSP and that was *so* not enough. after eating one bowl, i added another TBSP and that helped but you could go as far as 3-4 TBSP. i also added seeded serrano chilies just before i cooked the mushrooms and chicken – i think you could add some to the original broth for flavor/heat…maybe even some seeds and pith (!). and next time, double the cilantro sprigs and add more shallots. more more more! the soup just didn’t have enough depth…that could also be because i used light coconut milk…stick with good coconut milk (chaokoh) and good straw mushrooms. and i probably could’ve added kaffir lime leaves and more lemongrass and more of *everything* since i had 1.5 lbs of chicken. proportions? what’s that?