Tom Kha Gai (Coconut Soup with Brown Rice)

I had a friend tell me how much she enjoyed this soup at a Thai restaurant, so I decided it would be fun to see if I could make it at home. Think coconut, ginger, lemongrass . . . mmmmm. It was fun to try something new. The family really enjoyed it. It was a hit. It was a nice light meal. I will definitely be making it again.

Ingredients: Serves about 8
2 Cans of coconut milk
6 C chicken broth ( I just used the water that I cooked the chicken in)
1/2 tsp salt
4 stalks fresh lemon grass (wash it well and chop in pieces)
6 red shallots (peel and chop into small pieces)
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp coriander
2 handfuls of cilantro leaves
1-2 jalapeno peppers* (seeded and chopped) depends on how spicy you want it?
2 T fresh ginger chopped or galanga I used ginger. couldn't find the galanga)
zest from one lime
*opt. 1 to 2 tsp chili garlic sauce ( I didn't use this time.)
3 C cooked chicken chopped into pieces (cooked in 6 C water and used for broth)
1 C chopped mushrooms
3 T fish sauce
2 T lime juice
1 handful of cilantro if desired
6 C of cooked brown rice

Directions:

1. In a pot on the stove on medium heat cook, milk, broth, salt, lemon grass, shallots, garlic, coriander and cilantro, peppers, ginger, and zest. Let it all cook together about 15 min. You can fish out the lemon grass at this point.

2. Then add the chicken, mushrooms and fish sauce. Cook another 10 min.

3. Stir in lime juice and another handful of cilantro if desired. Heat 3 more min.

4. Serve it over brown rice or you could eat it without the rice. Enjoy

*You could use serrano peppers.