Tom Kha Gai: Coconut-Poached Chicken Breast with Galangal and Lime
Inspired by techniques from NYT Cooking and Serious Eats.
Whole chicken breasts gently poached in a rich coconut broth built on a pounded lemongrass and galangal paste, then sliced into bowls with mushrooms and lime.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
Unlock all flavours with Premium
This flavour is part of Premium. You can see the ingredients and nutrition; the quantities and the full method are for members.
Premium: $4.99/month or $39.99/year.
Equipment
- pestle and mortar or mini food processor
- large saucepan with a lid
- instant-read thermometer
- tongs
- chopping board
- ladle
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 385 kcal |
| Protein | 32.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 10.9 g |
| of which sugars | 2.3 g |
| of which free sugars | 0.5 g |
| Fat | 24.9 g |
| of which saturates | 19.7 g |
| Fibre | 1.1 g |
| Salt | 1.97 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
8.5 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
Metric · 4 servings
Paste
- 1 lemongrass stalk, tender core finely chopped
- 20 g fresh galangal, peeled and chopped or fresh ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 10 g coriander stems (and roots, if you have them), chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
Soup
- 400 ml full-fat coconut milk
- 400 ml water
- 2 lemongrass stalks, cut into 5 cm lengths and bruised
- 6 thin slices galangal
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 500 g total
- 150 g button or chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 6 makrut lime leaves, torn not counted
- 2 red bird's-eye chillies, finely sliced
To finish
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 10 g coriander leaves
- 1
Pound the paste. Pound or blend the chopped lemongrass, galangal, garlic, coriander stems, shallots and peppercorns into a rough paste. Coarse is fine; bruising the fibres is what matters for flavour.
- 2
Bloom in coconut. Warm 100 ml of the coconut milk in the saucepan over medium heat until it bubbles. Stir in the paste and cook for 2 min until it smells fragrant. Frying the paste in coconut fat wakes up flavours that water alone would leave flat.
- 3
Build the broth. Add the remaining coconut milk, the water, lemongrass lengths and galangal slices. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 min.
- 4
Poach the chicken. Lower in the whole breasts, cover and hold the pot at the barest simmer for 14-16 min, turning them once, until the thickest part reads 74 °C. Rest them on the board for 5 min, then cut into 1 cm slices. Low, gentle heat is the secret to tender, moist breast meat.
- 5
Cook the mushrooms. Tip the mushrooms, lime leaves and chillies into the broth and simmer for 3 min.
- 6
Season. Away from the heat, stir in the fish sauce and lime juice, then taste and adjust.
- 7
Serve. Arrange the sliced chicken in warm bowls, ladle the hot broth and mushrooms over and finish with coriander.
Storage
Keep the chicken and broth covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently until piping hot (74 °C), without boiling hard. Not suitable for freezing. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
