Gai Tom Kha i.e. chicken in coconut soup

In Thailand you can enjoy some excellent soups and most of them are internationally famed. Gai Tom Kha popularly known as Tom Kha Gai is one of the classic soups of Thailand. This is very easy to prepare and mothers usually like this soups as the preparation time is also very less. Tom Kha Gai is milder than Tom Yum Goong soup.

The ingredients can be noted as one or one and half cup water, one piece crushed galangal, one piece lime, ¼ cup coconut milk, two to three Thai chili pepper, one tablespoon fish sauce, two to four springs cilantro, one to two kaffir lime leaves which is optional, and ¼ cup chicken.

If the soup tastes too mild you can add some more fish sauce, or sometimes lime and chili pepper. The ingredients of this Thai soup are flexible and you can alter it according to your taste bud.

At first a piece of galangal should be crushed. The galangal, water and coconut milk should be dropped in a two quart pot. It should be then boiled in medium to low heat. After sometime the heat should be reduced to simmer and this should be followed by constant stirring. Sliced chicken and fish sauce is added just after sometime. If you are planning to add the kaffir lime leaves, the central stem should be removed from the leaves. The soup should be boiled for some more time and the heat should be turned off.
While serving, add some crushed fresh chili pepper to the bowl. It is very useful if you are suffering from sinus. But if do not like the hot taste, pepper should be avoided. You can add some for garnishing. One third of the lime should be crushed in each of the bowl. The soup is poured and cilantro is used for garnishing. The soup should always be served hot.

Exotic Thai food in Pattaya

 
Thai foods are extra ordinary in taste. There are some famous dishes in Thai food namely Pad Thai, Tom Yum Goong, etc. Thai foods are famous for its uniqueness. They are unique as they are spicy, hot and also appetizing. Herbs take an important part in preparing Thai food. They have tremendous food value as well. Some of the useful herbs are Khing i.e. ginger, Hom Daeng i.e. Shallot, Ma Now i.e. Lime, Prik i.e. chili, Kha i.e. galangal, Kra Tieam i.e. garlic, Saranae i.e. mint, Kraprao i.e. basil and many more. The six fundamental flavors are always maintained in Thai food. These are spicy, salty, oily, sweet, bitter and sour. All of these perfectly blend with each other and make Thai food so tasty and mouth watering. All the six flavors are described in their own style.

• Hot and spicy: The spicy flavor makes Thai food so hot. The taste probably comes from Capsicum frutescents.

• Bitter: This taste usually comes from some leaf or animal entrails. As a matter of fact Thai people have a strong believe that bitter taste food has some sort of medicinal value.
  

• Salty: The food where fish sauce has been used tastes salty. This fish sauce is regarded as one of the important ingredients in Thai food.

• Oily: Coconut crème is usually used to bring the oily flavor in Thai food. Some vegetable oil or fat is also responsible for the oily flavor in Thai food.
  

• Sour: The sour flavor comes from vinegar. Lime juice is also used to get this flavor in Thai food. The sour flavor can also be achieved from garcina, acacia leaf, tamarine leaf, garcina leaf, etc. The sour flavor gives extra taste to Thai food.
  

• Sweet: Sugar is responsible for the taste of sweetness in Thai food. There are a variety of sugars present in Thai food. These are coconut palm sugar, brown sugar, jaggary, palm sugar, etc. These are found in the shape of cakes.
  

The above mentioned six flavors are responsible for the unbelievable taste of Thai food.