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Soup

Tom Kha Kai

A Thai coconut soup with lemongrass, galangal, chilies, chicken, and mushrooms.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Tom Kha Kai

Serves 5
Time4 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Bring stock and coconut milk to a boil.

  2. Add lemongrass, galangal, chilies, sugar, and pepper.

  3. Add onion, tomato, chicken bits, and mushrooms.

  4. Keep at a rolling boil for 4 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the pot from the heat.

  2. Stir in lime juice and soy sauce.

  3. Garnish with cilantro and chilies.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

610Calories
40 gProtein
31 gFat
47 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Chicken100g cooked165
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lemongrass1 tbsp (6g)5
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Galangalnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Coconut milk
Provides richness and a creamy body to the broth.
Chicken
Supplies the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in the broth.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a soft, tender texture to the soup.
Lime juice
Adds sour acidity that brightens the rich coconut broth.
Soy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth to balance the sweetness and sourness.

The step that matters

Keep at a rolling boil for 4 minutes. Coconut milk can separate or curdle if boiled too hard for too long, and chicken cooked too briefly stays underdone. Holding a steady, controlled boil cooks the chicken through while keeping the broth smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, milk, chicken, tomato, mushroom, sugar, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, milk, chicken, tomato, mushroom, sugar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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