Very cool!! In lieu of a kaffir lime tree, I buy mine frozen at the Thai grocery store so I can make my favorite Tom Ka Gai. I'll try the recipe that you posted as a different use for the leaves. Thanks for posting.

Good job Lars.

I'll have to try that recipe myself as well. I'll have to go to a Thai grocery for galangal, but I have the rest of the ingredients, including shrimp.

I store Kaffir lime leaves in the freezer. I have fresh lemongrass in the yard, but I also use the lemongrass in a tube that I bought at a Japanese market, and I also have Yuzu paste from the same market, since my Yuzu tree is nowhere near to making fruit yet.

I hope you enjoy the lime leaves - they definitely had their own distinctive aromatic flavor.

Lars

Lucky girl! I am craving thai food like crazy ever since I posted the curry paste recipe. I went to our local ranch 9 market and they did not have kaffir lime leaves. I have to drive a bit further for thai market. I have never attempted soups before. DH loves Tom Kha..

Mustangs --> Do you make Tom Kha spicy? Any recipe to share?

Lars --> Do you think Kaffir lime and lemon grass will do well in SF area? I see that fourwinds has kaffir lime and we do love thai food in this house.

This post was edited by GWlolo on Tue, Jan 22, 13 at 15:30

I'm sure that you can grow Kaffir lime and definitely lemongrass in the SF area. I think lemongrass is zone 8 and Kaffir lime is 9/10 and would need protection if you get frost. I have mine in a wine barrel planter, but that's because I want to have it in my concrete patio area, where it will get the best sun, plus I have bad soil in the yard.

If the nurseries in your area sell the lime trees, then they probably do well there. You can also buy them from fourwinds on line. You should find lemongrass in your local nurseries in the spring, but it is a perennial.

Lars

Interesting! Is the fruit on a kaffir good for anything?

You are not supposed to eat the fruit from the Kaffir lime tree, but I have found recipes that call for some of the zest. I have also noticed that it is okay to use some of the juice, but it is very acidic. The taste is very sour, but you simply use less and you can balance the sour flavor with something else. I would not use it in a dessert or drink recipe, but it is fine in soup or mixed with soy sauce as part of a marinade or dipping sauce. Traditionally, the juice is used in rinsing hair. I have not bothered saving the limes (although I've used a couple of them) because I have a Bearss lime tree that is very prolific - at least at the moment.

Lars

Lars - the Kaffir leaves are in my freezer although I could have placed them out on my deck. Straight temp here was -15 here and I am looking forward to making this tomorrow and making it extra spicy.

I brought my ginger plant in for the winter. Dug fresh out of the pot the roots are much milder than the ginger roots I get at the store. For example - the skin on the roots is so thin you can scrape it off with a fingernail. And you can slice it with a butter knife. The roots from the store are semi "cured" and the flavor is much stronger.

Due to it's mildness I will sub it for the galangal in lieu of venturing out in the cold.

I would think you could easily grow both ginger and galangal.

Lucky you Teresa.

I just bouight a Yuzu tree, a Meyer lemon tree. Looks like I will be buying a Kaffir Lime tree as well.

dcarch

Hmm. Did some googling. Cute enough plant for the landscape, isn't it?

Thanks!

GW, I like all things spicy. I have about 7 recipes for Tom Kha Gai, still looking for the magical one.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence 1 quart chicken stock
1 stalk lemon grass, white part only, cracked open with the flat side of a knife
3 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or dried, hand torn
1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 small Thai chilies, halved lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (13-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 (8-ounce) can straw mushrooms, rinsed
2 limes, juiced
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Bring the stock to the boil over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, ginger, chilies, and garlic. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and gently simmer for 10 minutes to let the spices infuse the broth.

Uncover and stir in the coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, mushrooms, lime juice, and chicken. Simmer for 5 minutes to heat the chicken through; season with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into a soup tureen or individual serving bowls. Garnish with cilantro. Be careful to avoid chewing the lemongrass, ginger, or lime leaves.
Yield: 4 servings

Thai Chicken Soup in Coconut Milk (Tom Kha Gai)
This recipe for Thai coconut soup with chicken is incredibly easy. The key is to use fresh lemon grass in your cooking. Dried galangal works very well in this coconut-based soup. Serve over steamed jasmine rice with a stir fry vegetable on the side for a complete meal.

Ingredients
2-3 pcs fresh or dried galangal slices
2 pcs of fresh lemon grass stalks
1 clove of garlic
A pinch of tamarind paste
3-4 fresh chilies (depending on how spicy you you like it)
Fish sauce to taste (Golden Boy Brand is preferable)
Thin soy sauce, optional
1/2 lb. chicken
1 (13.5oz) can of coconut milk

1. Boil galangal, lemon grass, garlic and tamarind in 1 cup of water for 2-3 minutes to bring out the flavor.
2. Cut 1/2 lb. chicken (thighs are nice or breast) into approx. 2 inch pieces (best if you cut through the bone with a sharp cleaver, but also you can use boneless meat. Note: The bones give a richer flavor.)
3. Add chicken to the boiling water and boil for another 8 minutes until cooked through.
4. Add 13.5oz can coconut milk. Bring to the boil again and boil for another 3 minutes.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (nahm plah), 1 tablespoon Thai thin soy sauce, 2 slices of white onion. And if desired garnish with 3-4 pcs of Thai fresh chiles (prik kee noo). Bring to the boil for one minute.
6. Remove from heat and serve over jasmine rice. Add fish sauce to taste. If fish sauce is not available sea salt is also very good.

The fruit is inedible, trust me, I have a tree and tried it - UGH! Extremely volatile oils make it a mouth-puckering, spitting experience! Like tasting kerosene or something like that. The leaves are divine and it only takes one leaf to impart the lovely flavor into a curry or other recipe. In fact, I take the leaf out after enough of the flavor is imparted because they are so effective.

Gina, maybe the lime you tasted was not ripe. I tasted the juice from one that fell off the tree, and it was not bad - just very sour - but nothing like kerosene! I also take the leaves out during the cooking process so that the flavor does not become overwhelming.

I do grow ginger here, but it is ornamental. One of them makes blue flowers and the others have not bloomed yet here, although they did in Venice. I will look for galangal when I go to an Indonesian or Thai market (or maybe Japanese), but Thai Town is not that close to me - probably 10 miles away and at least a 30 minute drive. However, it is close to Koreatown and Little Armenia, and so I can shop in those neighborhoods when I venture to that part of town. The market I go to in Koreatown is huge, but I don't know whether they would have galagal either. I would call them, but I don't think that would be very helpful - it is difficult enough talking with them in person, although shoppers there are very helpful. The Indonesian market is fairly close but also very small, although there is a nice Indonesian restaurant across the street from it, which makes it worthwhile. The Japanese markets are closer, but again they may not have galangal.

Lars

Maybe it was because I bit into the whole fruit and tasted the peel? Anyway, don't do it, LOL!

Korean and Japanese grocery would not have galangal, tamarind or lemon grass. Lars, have you ever been to 99 Ranch market at the west end of the Artesia freeway? It's a big Chinese market and they have south Asian ingredients like those. Maybe a group trip there would be good. There is, or at least was, a Peruvian/Chinese restaurant in that strip.

I was at that 99 Ranch market a few weeks ago.

A very big and nice place. Wonderful fresh seafood. Great varieties of vegetables and fruits.

I bought a big jack fruit when I was there.

dcarch

Mustangs - thanks for posting the recipes.

Gina - The kaffir lime fruit is cut and preserved with salt in southern india and often used as a simple acccompaniment with yogurt and rice. Even when ripe, it is super tart but the bitterness goes away.

Dcarch- jackfruit is king of fruits.. We had a tree in the backyard growing up and it was an event when it was harvested and cut open. The whole house would smell of jackfruit. The fibers around the flesh of the fruit is very sticky and my grandma would oil the knife with raw sesame oil white cutting. The seeds were roasted and used in stews. I bought a quarter of a fruit last year from a local Indian market and it was pretty good! I do miss the fragrance and flavor of tropical fruits.

This post was edited by GWlolo on Thu, Jan 24, 13 at 1:03

Gina, I have been to that 99 Ranch Market, and while Kevin and I were there, we did eat at the Peruvian restaurant, which we both loved and wanted to go back to. I bought a cherimoya at 99 Ranch and some dried mushrooms that turned out to be a medicinal treatment for an ailment that I do not have. I have to remember to avoid the medicinal aisle the next time I go. I bought several bags/jars of dried mushrooms and still have not used all of them up.

I have canned jackfruit in the fridge, but I was just chilling it before opening it, and the can is still unopened. I have plenty of tamarind, which I buy in a paste at the Indonesian market in Palms.

I'm up for a group trip to the 99 Ranch Market and Peruvian restaurant if you want to pick a time. There was a Marukai market in the same strip mall that was having a going out of business sale, and I bought some Japanese plates there. You can see one of the plates in the photo of the taco salad that I made.

Cathy, the recipes you posted look good, but I always omit coconut milk whenever I make Thai curry - it is just too sweet for my taste. I have not found that to be a problem, however, and others can add coconut milk to their plates/bowls if they choose. Anyway, I will save those recipes but make them only with revisions. I love all of the other ingredients.

Lars

GWlolo, I agree, Jackfruit's the king. Its sweetness is like mango, but very different. If I had stayed longer in LA, I would have tried to make Jackfruit ice cream.

Oh yes. I did go into a big Japanese store a short distance away. I don't remember if it was the Marukai market. It is worth going to the mall just to check out that store. It was not really a food store. Mostly a department store selling cute little Japanese stuff. It is interesting to see those stuff and get a feeling of how different Japanese culture is.

dcarch

Mitchell's icecream in San Francisco has a jackfruit icecream occasionally. Yum!