Thai - Tag - vo.rs

Tom Kha: Thai Coconut Soup with Lemongrass and Lime

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Tom kha gai is the gentler, creamier cousin of tom yum, a soothing Thai soup of coconut milk perfumed with lemongrass, galangal and lime. This one finishes with a drizzle of roasted chilli oil, which floats in glossy ruby pools and brings a smoky, mellow heat. The balance of creamy, sour and savoury is wonderfully restorative, equally good as a light supper or a cold-weather pick-me-up.

1 Ingredients

Serves 4.

2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut into lengths
5cm piece galangal (or ginger), sliced
6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
400ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin (400ml) coconut milk
300g boneless chicken thighs, sliced (or 250g mushrooms for a veggie version)
200g mushrooms, halved
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2-3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp roasted chilli oil (nam prik pao or chilli oil)
Handful of fresh coriander
1 red chilli, sliced, to serve

2 Method

Put the stock in a saucepan with the lemongrass, galangal and torn lime leaves. Bring to a simmer and infuse for 5 minutes so the aromatics perfume the broth.
Pour in the coconut milk and return to a gentle simmer; avoid a hard boil, which can make it split.
Add the sliced chicken and poach gently for 6-8 minutes until cooked through.
Stir in the mushrooms and cook for a further 4-5 minutes until tender.
Season with the fish sauce and palm sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Take the pan off the heat before adding the lime juice, so its fresh sourness is not dulled.
Taste and balance: it should be creamy, salty, sour and faintly sweet all at once.
Fish out the woody lemongrass and galangal pieces if you prefer a tidier bowl.
Ladle into bowls and drizzle a generous swirl of roasted chilli oil over each.
Finish with fresh coriander and sliced red chilli, and serve hot.

3 The Story

Tom kha, most often made with chicken as tom kha gai, is one of the most comforting dishes in the Thai repertoire. The name is wonderfully literal: tom means to boil or simmer, kha is galangal, and gai is chicken, so it is simply boiled galangal soup with chicken. That galangal is the key to its identity. Though it looks like ginger and is sometimes substituted with it, galangal has a sharper, more piney and citrusy bite that gives the soup its distinctive fragrance.

Pad Thai with Tamarind, Palm Sugar and Toasted Peanuts

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Real pad thai is a careful balancing act: sweet palm sugar, sour tamarind and salty fish sauce playing off slippery noodles. This version gets the proper tamarind-and-palm-sugar sauce right, finishes with peanuts toasted fresh for maximum crunch, and chars the lime halves so their juice turns smoky-sweet. It is faster than a takeaway and far more vivid, with that addictive sweet-sour tang.

1 Ingredients

Serves 2.

120g flat rice noodles
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)
2 tbsp fish sauce
200g raw king prawns (or sliced chicken or firm tofu)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
100g beansprouts
3 spring onions, cut into batons
50g roasted unsalted peanuts
1 lime, halved
Dried chilli flakes, to serve

2 Method

Soak the rice noodles in warm water for 15-20 minutes until pliable but not soft, then drain.
Toast the peanuts in a dry pan until fragrant and golden, then roughly chop. Set aside.
Make the sauce by warming the tamarind paste, palm sugar and fish sauce in a small pan until the sugar dissolves into a glossy syrup. Taste; it should be balanced sweet, sour and salty.
Char the lime halves cut-side down in a hot dry pan until blackened. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the prawns and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until just pink, then push to one side.
Add the garlic and shallots and stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Pour the beaten eggs into the empty side of the wok, let them set briefly, then scramble lightly.
Add the drained noodles and the sauce, tossing constantly for 2-3 minutes until the noodles are tender and coated.
Throw in the beansprouts, spring onions and most of the peanuts, tossing for another minute.
Squeeze in the juice of one charred lime half and toss through.
Pile onto plates, scatter with the remaining peanuts and chilli flakes, and serve with the other charred lime half.

3 The Story

Pad thai is probably the most internationally recognised Thai dish, a stir-fry of rice noodles tangled with egg, beansprouts and the bright sweet-sour sauce that defines it. It is street food at heart, cooked to order over fierce heat in woks across Thailand, and it rewards quick movements and good preparation far more than any single rare ingredient.

Thai Green Curry with Roasted Coconut and Kaffir Lime

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A good Thai green curry is all about fragrance: lime leaves, basil and fresh chilli singing over creamy coconut. This one adds a Thai trick of toasting desiccated coconut until golden and stirring it in, which brings a nutty, gently smoky warmth. With a generous hit of kaffir lime, it tastes brighter and more aromatic than the usual jar-and-tin version, yet it is just as quick.

1 Ingredients

Serves 4.

4 tbsp desiccated coconut
600g boneless chicken thighs, sliced
3-4 tbsp Thai green curry paste
1 tin (400ml) coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
6 kaffir lime leaves
1 aubergine, cut into chunks (or a handful of pea aubergines)
100g green beans, trimmed
1 red chilli, sliced
Handful of Thai basil leaves
1 lime, to serve
Vegetable oil, for frying

2 Method

Toast the desiccated coconut in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until deep golden and fragrant. Tip onto a plate immediately so it does not burn.
Heat a splash of oil in a wok or wide pan. Spoon in the thick cream from the top of the coconut milk tin and fry for 2-3 minutes until it splits and smells sweet.
Add the curry paste and fry for another 2 minutes until darkened and aromatic.
Stir in the sliced chicken and turn it to coat in the paste, cooking for 3-4 minutes.
Pour in the rest of the coconut milk and the stock, then add the fish sauce and palm sugar.
Tear in the kaffir lime leaves and drop in the aubergine. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Add the green beans and cook for a further 4-5 minutes until just tender.
Stir in most of the toasted coconut, reserving a little to finish.
Taste and balance with more fish sauce, sugar or a squeeze of lime as needed.
Off the heat, stir through the Thai basil and sliced chilli.
Scatter with the reserved toasted coconut and serve with jasmine rice and lime wedges.

3 The Story

Thai green curry, or gaeng keow wan, is among the best loved dishes of central Thai cooking. Its name translates roughly as sweet green curry, though the sweetness is gentle and relative; the green comes from a vivid paste built on fresh green chillies, lemongrass, galangal, coriander root, shallots and shrimp paste, pounded together until smooth. That fresh, herbal heat sets it apart from the deeper, drier red and Massaman curries.

Massaman Beef Curry with Peanuts and Potato

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Massaman is the gentle giant of the Thai curry world: mild, deeply spiced and richly comforting, owing as much to warm whole spices as to chilli heat. The twist here is to toast those whole spices before they go in, deepening the curry’s aroma, then finish with tamarind and peanuts for a sweet-sour, nutty edge. Beef shin braised low and slow turns silky, and waxy potatoes soak up the fragrant sauce. Serve with plenty of jasmine rice.