Thai Sa-On’s Tom Kha Gai

BY LINDA GARSON

When we run Vine & Dine events, the pairing dinners are regularly multiple courses each paired to complement the flavours.

We’re proud that we’re known for our perfect and complementary pairings, and we’re usually spot on as we’re very well versed in pairing rules and theories.

However, while most of it is done in our heads, and we’ve been doing it for more than 18 years now, we almost never get to try the food first, and if we do, we rarely get to try it with any beverages.

Last month, we ran three pairing dinners at Thai Sa-On and of the six dishes there was one that almost everyone commented on – and surprisingly a soup. This Tom Kai Gai is made with chicken, mushrooms, lemongrass, lime, and coconut milk, and is light with a fresh zing to it, and a little spice too from the chili.

On two evenings we paired it with a lovely lightly oaked chardonnay from California, and on the third evening we had a winemaker from Le Marche, in Italy, with us and we paired it with her pecorino. Both were excellent pairings and a lot of people asked for the recipe – including our Italian and Californian winemakers!

Thanks very much to Thai Sa-On’s new owner, Patcharin Smith, for generously sharing her recipe, and for three great evenings at the restaurant that were enjoyed by so many people!

Thai Sa-On’s Tom Kha Gai

Serves 4

400 g chicken breast, sliced thin

100 g shimeji mushrooms (or substitute oyster or button mushrooms)

1 small can (400 mL) coconut milk

1¼ cups (300 mL) chicken stock

5 tsp sugar

2 tsp garlic, crushed

1½- 2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp crushed black pepper

5 pieces galangal, cut into small strips

5 pieces lemongrass, cut into 5 cm lengths (use the bottom half of the stick)

2 kaffir lime leaves, torn by hand into smaller pieces

3 Tbs (45 mL) lime juice

5 cherry tomatoes, cut into half

½ tsp Thai chili, crushed (optional)

2 spring onions, chopped, for garnish Cilantro, for garnish

1. Put the first eight ingredients (chicken, mushrooms, coconut milk, chicken stock, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper), into a soup pot and bring to the boil.

2. Lower heat and add galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, tomatoes, and chili (if using). Let cook for one more minute.

3. Garnish with spring onions and cilantro as desired.

If there’s a dish in a restaurant in Alberta that you’d love to make at home, let us know at culinairemagazine.ca, and we’ll do our very best to track down the recipe for you!