Comforting Thai Chicken Coconut Soup with chunks of potato, mushrooms, cilantro and spicy chili. Keep it mild or make it spicy either way it will still be delicious and will help vary your meal prep!
I really love soups. You basically throw everything into a pot with some liquid and wait a bit and in the end you have a magnificent bowl of warm comforting food-amazing! I like to switch up cuisines as much as I can when I make a soup, because if you think about it, it's one of those dishes that truly every single cuisine has recipes for. Is there a cuisine that doesn't have a soup? I truly don't think so!
This soup is so yummy and flavorful. It is layered with ginger and garlic and lovely chunks of chicken and potato. Finished off with coconut milk, mushrooms, fresh cilantro and chilies, it really is wonderful.
Somethings regarding these ingredients. When it comes to thai chili paste, not all pastes are made equal. Although Thai Kitchen Paste is very accessible and in most grocery stores, in my opinion, it is not the best. After scouring multiple thai blogs I found the common sentiment is that Maeseri Thai Paste (available on amazon and most asian grocery stores) is truly the best. They have a few different red curry pastes varying in spiciness, I always get mild and then adjust the spiciness myself with chilies or red pepper flakes. The trick to using this paste is you want to cook it for a little bit before adding liquid to it, almost like you would cook out a rue before whisking in your liquid!
In regards to the lemongrass, Whole Foods usually carries it but I have become quite fond of this lemon grass paste I have found at Stop and Shop. It is from Gourmet Garden and comes in a squeezable tube. 1 tbsp is equivalent to 1 stalk of lemon grass! Let me tell you, when you add fresh garlic, ginger, fish sauce (don't be scared of it!) and lemon grass to any thai paste you elevate the flavor so much and take your dish from something that was good to something that is spectacular!This goes for any time your using any kind of curry paste, you want to elevate your dish by using the fresh version of the ingredients that are either in the paste already or in the traditional dish and incorporate them into your recipe!