Yes, it calls for 2 BS chicken breasts, listed just after the galangal.

Celery would be good, hadn't thought of that.

I'll keep experimenting!

Linda

Love that soup! Second only to Lemongrass.

I've made it with a little Thai chile paste and with sliced serranos.

Lars, is it still Tom Kha Gai without coconut milk?

I see the chicken breasts now! Duh!

Cindy, I do not call the soup I make Tom Kha Gai - I call it a Tom Yum Soup, which has several variations.

Thanks for the tips and substitutions for making my favorite Thai soup.

Thai food is my favorite since working in LA years ago and going to Tommy Tang's restaurant.

If any one does have a recipe for the homemade curry paste would you please post it/them? Thanks!

I have several recipes for homemade curry paste from the book Keo's Thai Cuisine, which I bought decades ago (some time in the 1980s), but I have not put them in my computer. I started making Thai curry paste so that I could omit the cinnamon (which I did not like in the paste), but more recently I have been about to find Thai curry paste in a small can or jar that does not have cinnamon in it, and so I just buy that instead of making my own. I'll try to type out a recipe that I use, but normally I just make it from the book.

I've been to Tommy Tang's restaurant on Melrose several time, although not recently, as there are very good Thai restaurants closer to me.

I need to replant lemon grass, as I no longer have it in my yard.

Lars, I'll have to see if I can find lemon grass to grow. Do you get yours at a nursery?

Lars, I sent this recipe to my daughter - who lives in Woodland Hills. She would like to know where you got the keffir lime leaves.

I got my lemon grass from my friend Bernard, and I'm not sure where he got it. I'll have to ask him, but I do think that certain nurseries have it. There is one in San Gabriel that specialized in Asian fruit trees, and they may also have it. If you find it fresh in a market, and it has roots, you can plant that, and I think this might have been what Bernard did. Check your local market to see if they fresh lemon grass with the roots still attached. It's very easy to grow.

I have a Kaffir lime tree, and that's where I get my leaves, but you can find them at Bangkok Market on Melrose, down the street from Paramount Studios in Hollywood. There are other markets in Thai Town, but I'm not that familiar with them. You can get the tree at San Gabriel Nursery, which I also think may have lemon grass. They do have galangal.

Lars, you were very kind to share with Linda. I know none of those things (lemon grass, galangal or kefir lime) grow in Michigan, so I doubt they would grow for Linda in Minnesota either. That's a nice taste of warm for our colder climates!

Annie

Lars, thanks for the information. I will look for fresh with roots to plant. Seems like I have researched this before...gotta' have my Tom Kha Gai.

Cathy, you should be able to find lemongrass at any local nursery.

You can get lemongrass plants off eBay. There are several listings on there now but you would need to wait until warm weather to order them. I have never grown it but, from what I have read, it is hardy only in Zone 9...Zone 8 with protection. But, supposedly, you can bring some starts in and over winter it indoors. Naturally, it is grows quite large so, if you're growing it in a pot outdoors, it needs to be a large one. You can also grow it from seed so you wouldn't have to wait til spring.

It does get big! I dug mine out after one year because it got so big. When I need lemongrass I buy it at Whole Foods.

Pic was taken on June 3. By the end of the summer it was huge! Lemongrass is behind the chard and Spanish tarragon.

Lars: thank you for the info. DD is 'on the hunt' now that she knows she can grow it herself.

doucanoe: DD made the soup you first posted - Tom Kha Gai - and thought it very good and a "keeper". Thanks for posting it.

I have a fairly happy kaffir lime growing inside easily in Maine. And a pot of barely surviving miserable lemongrass.

Lemongrass is very very easy to grow from seed. BUT make sure you mark it wel if you direct sow. Desirable grass seedlings and undesirable grassy weed seedlings are indistinguishable for months. I did not weed a section of my herb garden for months. And the lemongrass seedlings would have benefited from thinning. I had 50 or more healthy very small seedlings last fall. Perhaps better to sow inside for that reason. Lol.