Spicy, sweet, sour and umami, my vegan, vegetarian Tom Kha recipe is a sure dinner winner. This Thai Coconut Soup is packed with vegetables and mushrooms for a heathy, delicious meal paired with rice noodles or steamed rice.
Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced shallots or onions finely chopped garlic.
Saute for two minutes on low to low-medium heat.
Add the chopped veggies and sliced mushrooms. You can add your choice of mix veggies to the soup.
Mix well and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add water. You can also add homemade vegetable stock.
Now add the sliced lemongrass stalks, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and thai chilies.
Season with salt and mix well. Keep in mind to add less salt as soy sauce which may have some salt, will be added later to the recipe.
Cook Veggies
Cover and simmer on low to medium-low heat until the vegetables are tender. Do not overcook the veggies. This takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
Then add tomatoes, mushroom powder (optional), palm sugar, and soy sauce. Mix and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on medium-low heat.
Finish Tom Kha
Add coconut milk. Mix well and heat for 1 to 2 minutes on a low heat. Do not boil so that the coconut milk does not get split.
Lastly, add lemon juice and stir.
Pour in soup bowls. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot. You can even place some hot noodles or steamed rice in the bowl and pour soup over the noodles or rice.
Notes
Reduce the amount of thai chilies (bird's eye chilies) for a less spicy tom kha.
Use thick coconut milk in the recipe and not lite coconut milk. You can also use coconut cream, but thin it down a bit by adding some water.
Feel free to include veggies of your choice. Also add mushrooms that are easily available to you. For dried shiitake mushrooms, rinse and rehydrate them in water for a few hours.
Adjust the soy sauce, chillies, palm sugar, lemon juice according to your taste.
Note that the approximate nutrition info is for the tom kha soup only and does not include the rice noodles.