Instant Pot Coconut Shrimp Soup (Tom Kha) Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Tom Kha and Tom Yum? ›

Tom Yum is much spicier, and has a clear broth. Tom Kha uses coconut milk to stabilize and mellow the flavors, making it both sweeter and slightly heavier. While both soups can be made with a variety of proteins, tom yum usually calls for shrimp, while tom kha is commonly made with chicken.

To make a full meal out of this, I recommend serving the tom kha gai with jasmine rice, green papaya salad, and makheua yao pad tao jiao (stir-fried eggplant).

Best: Tom Yum Soup

Tom yum has fewer than 100 calories per cup. It also has shrimp, veggies, and fragrant spices, such as lemongrass. Tom yum and other broth-based soups, like tofu-vegetable or wonton, are usually lower in fat and calories than soups made with coconut milk, such as tom kha.

Because of its nutritional density and unique spice combination, Tom Kha soup keeps our immune system very strong.

Tom Yum Goong Nam Sai from The Local (Michelin Bib Gourmand) Tom kha. Now that we've established that “tom” means “boiling a broth”, knowing that “kha” means galangal will quickly help us understand that this soup's main ingredient is the galangal (don't confuse it with “king” or ginger now!).

What Does Tom Kha Gai Mean? Tom Kha Gai is a popular Thai soup known for its intense galangal, coconut aromatic flavor. The literal translation is “boiled galangal chicken” but can be broken down as: TOM means SOUP or BOILED/COOKED, KHA means galangal root and GAI means chicken.

Low in calories: Tom Kha Gai soup is generally low in calories, particularly if it is made with lean protein sources like chicken breast and plenty of vegetables. A one-cup serving of Tom Kha Gai soup typically contains around 140-180 calories.

Tom Khai Gai consists of warm coconut broth infused with lemongrass, red curry, galangal, and basil, with thinly sliced tender chicken, mushrooms and red bell peppers. Its bright and refreshing, both light and rich at the same time, and its layers of tantalizing spices are mesmerizing.

Tom Kha Gai is a surprisingly simple soup to make with all of the Thai flavors - a base of creamy coconut milk infused with lime, savory fish sauce galangal, lemongrass, lime leaves, then tender pieces of chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes are added to make this soup really hearty.

Tom yam (pronounced 'tom jam') is a clear soup with an intensely sour and spicy flavour. It is made by combining lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal. A portion of meat or fish can also be added, while mushrooms are also a popular choice. All of this is flavoured with fish sauce, lime juice and chilli peppers.

What is the Flavour of tom yum? ›

Various aromatic ingredients are sliced, roughly pounded, and simmered to extract their flavor. These include fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, chilis, shallots, and garlic. For shrimp-based soups, shrimp shells and heads may also be simmered, to extract their flavor.