Three of our Favourite Thai Soup Recipes

Thai soup is world famous for its delicious combinations of spicy and salty flavours. Our recipes include a range of wonderful ingredients complete with instructions and images of the final product.

Tom Kha Gai Soup

Tom Kha Gai is a dish that produces that distinct Thai balance of flavour between spicy, salty and sour, and is wonderfully warming in the winter months. It is relatively easy to make and can be eaten either as an appetizer to meals or on its own as the main event. A Chicken Tom Kha Gai needs chicken, coconut milk and mushrooms as its main ingredients, and uses lemongrass, Kafir leaves, lime juice and galangal to find its main flavours. We have produced our favourite recipe below.

Recipe:

2 Chicken Breasts

1200ml Coconut Milk

3cm galangal

3 stalks of lemongrass

2 small onions

2 tomatoes

6 Kafir Leaves

200g button or oyster mushrooms

5 Thai Chilies

60ml Lime Juice

Coriander

1. First, slice the bottom off of your lemongrass and slice it into one inch strips.
2. Next, take about 3 centimeters of galangal (or ginger, if you don’t have any) and cut the root into slivers. Galangal is a lot like ginger and can be tough to cut into, so this might take more time than you expect, but is well worth it to get the flavour right.
3. Preheat your oven to roughly 180˚C, and start heating a medium sized saucepan. Add your lemongrass and galangal with half of your coconut milk.
4. Cut the stems off of your chillies and slice them diagonally into 1-cm chunks. Put them in a small bowl to one side. Cut your onions in half and then into thick wedges, and put them in another bowl. Cut your tomatoes in the same way and put them in the same bowl.
5. Slice up your chicken as this starts to cook away. The chicken can be cut small or large, depending on how you like it. Just remember it takes longer to cook large bits of chicken than small.
6. Once the coconut milk is cooking, but before it boils, add the chicken and the remainder of coconut milk.
7. Turn down the heat of the pan and make sure the coconut milk does not boil. Put in the cut chillies.
8. While stirring the soup, add your mushrooms. This is to get them nice and full of the flavour of your sauce. Stir only in one direction so as to make sure the milk does not curdle.
9. Move back over to your cutting board and peel and slice 2 small white onions into thick wedges (if your onion is really big, just use 1). Immediately toss the onions and tomatoes into the soup, and turn the heat up to keep the mixture cooking hot.
10. Break your kafir leaves into your mixture as it begins to cook deeper. Salt to taste.
11. Cook your Tom Kha Gai for another five to ten minutes, without boiling the mixture. Then, take it off of the heat.
12. Add your coriander and lime juice to the mix, breaking the coriander into smaller pieces as you do so.
13. Serve!

Tom Yum Soup

Tom Yum soup is perhaps the most famous and typical Thai soup dish. Hot and spicy from the peppers and garlic, the soup has subtle other flavours brought out by the saltiness of the fish and the sour bitter salts blended into the meal. Tom Yum is typically a seafood dish made with shrimp, squid, or mussels, and cooked with coconut milk, lemongrass, lime, and other flavourings to bring out the delicious flavour.

Tom Yum has hundreds of different variations on the recipe, but here is a simple classic:

Recipe:

12 King Prawns

5cm of Galangal

4 Kafir Leaves

4 Chilies

30cm Sesame Oil

1 Stick of Lemongrass

Coriander

2 Cloves of Garlic

1. Prepare the king prawns, if they have not been done already. Pull the head, then the tail, from each prawn’s body. Then, take a small knife and cut down the black line on the prawn’s back to open the shell and get the white tasty part of the prawn inside. Discard the head and tails, and put the shell to one side.
2. Fry the prawns shells, half of the chilies, the garlic and all but a tablespoon of the galangal in the sesame oil. As you start to cook, have around 800ml of water in a jug to your side. As the food starts to heat up, add the water and mix it in with the frying mixture. The goal is to cook the prawn shells crispy while keeping liquid in the pan.
3. Add the kafir lime and lemongrass, then leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Sieve out the shells and season with fish sauce and lime juice as needed.
5. Meanwhile, add the prawns to the remaining ginger and chilli peppers and fry for three minutes.
6. Serve with a sweet and sour sauce.

Thai Pumpkin Soup

As November is here, there are lots of delicious pumpkins going to waste. Make use of the winter vegetable and make a fantastic warming Thai Pumpkin soup, combining the mellow pumpkin with Thai spices and a nutty flavour. The three make a wonderful combination that can welcome in the cool autumn.

500g Pumpkin

400ml Evaporated Milk

1 Small Onion

60g Peanut Butter

30g Peanuts

4 tsp Light Brown Sugar

400ml Chicken Broth

1 Garlic Clove

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

½ Tablespoon Coriander

½ Tablespoon Cinnamon

¼ Tablespoon Nutmeg

1 ¼ Tablespoon Ginger

Coriander

1. Cut the onion finely and crush the garlic clove. In a large saucepan, start cooking some oil, then add the onion and garlic clove.
2. Add the brown sugar and cook everything until soft.
3. Add the broth with 100ml water, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add some salt and pepper to season.
4. Reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Stir in the pumpkin, evaporated milk, peanut butter, and spices. Cook for 5 minutes.
6. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth and frothy.
7. Serve warm, with finely cut coriander and peanuts on top to taste.

If you would like to try any other Thai food in the UK, have a look at our store online!