Takeaway at home

We were rolling by Vallejo on the way back from a night and a morning in San Francisco and stopped into The Asian Market at 1800 Spring St. The staff there was super friendly and although they didn't have everything we wanted (no holy basil, etc.), the owner told us to call him the next time we were coming by so that he could harvest some kaffir lime leaves from his own trees. Sweet!
We felt like some Pad Thai and I figured that we should make some Tom Ka Gai while we were at it. For the soup, this recipe seemed pretty "authentic" and we liked the fact that it went into the story behind kaffir lime leaves. Here's what we did with it.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Ka Gai Recipe)

Photo and recipe of Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Ka Gai) courtesy of my buddies at Andrews McMeel Publishing. A note on galangal/ginger: while often used together, they are not the same ingredient and taste very different! Many recipes will have you substitute ginger for galangal (which can be difficult to find), which isn’t really a “substitute.” Think of it as – if you can’t get galangal, ginger would be great in this soup too. Find galangal at the Asian market – sometimes you can get fresh galangal otherwise you may find it frozen. ~jaden

Tessa’s intro: “I just wouldn’t cope with not knowing how to make some version of this soup. I love it. You can add a few mushrooms, a couple of fresh spinach leaves or some slices of zucchini in with the chicken. Also wonderful instead of the chicken is to cook some large, shelled shrimp on a barbecue or grill pan and toss them into the soup just before serving. The fish sauce is the salt in this soup so adjust the quantities according to your taste (and the same with the chile). I like it not too strong. Keep the cilantro stems in your freezer to add flavor to a broth or stew.”

1 1/2 inch piece of galangal or ginger, peeled and sliced (we used powdered galangal)
small bunch fresh cilantro with roots
4 kaffir lime leaves (makrut), torn (we used lime peel)
1 stem lemongrass, halved lengthways
3 tablespoons fish sauce
juice of 2 small limes
1 3/4 cups coconut milk
1/2 pound skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 red chile (chilli), seeded and sliced

(we added sliced button mushrooms)

Result: We could have eaten the whole thing (serves four)

At the same time, we worked on Alton Brown's recipe for the Pad Thai. I don't know how authentic the recipe is, but it was similar to those being cooked by Thai women on other websites. BTW -- If you ever come across a Pad Thai recipe that calls for ketchup, DO NOT COOK IT!

Ingredients

• 1-ounce tamarind paste
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (we used seasoned rice wine vinegar)
  
• 4 ounces rice stick noodles
• 6 ounces Marinated Tofu, recipe follows
• 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 cup chopped scallions, divided
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salted cabbage (we didn't use this)
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp (we used shrimp paste)
• 3 ounces bean sprouts, divided
• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
• Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• (we added chicken and shrimp)

• Marinated Tofu:

  6 ounces extra-firm tofu, not silken

  1 1/2 cups soy sauce

  1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

We made our own Chinese five-spice powder from this recipe but subbed ginger and white pepper for the Szechuan peppercorns that we could not find. And we only marinated the tofu for an hour.

Result: Glad we made it for four!!