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Veg Thai Tom Kha Soup Recipe | Vegan Tom Kha Recipe

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Vegetarian Thai Tom Kha soup recipe, step by step. 

Thai recipes are not supposed to be vegetarian. They like their seafood and their meat, and create magic with it. 

vegetarian thai tom kha gai soup
Since some of us like to be vegetarian and eat Thai food, we need vegetarians versions of Thai recipes. Someone’s got to do it! 
While I may not be the first, this is an awesome vegetarian Tom Kha recipe. Tom Kha is my favourite Thai soup and I usually order the one with chicken and mushrooms. However, my homemade vegetarian version has tofu and no mushrooms (because I was serving this to someone who doesn’t eat mushrooms either!). 

vegetarian thai tom kha gai soup
In Singapore, we get something called a Tom Yam set on most supermarkets that has all the essential ingredients to make vegetarian Tom Kha soup, namely, galangal, lemongrass, thai chillies, kaffir lime leaves, lemon, and shallots. 
Veg Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup Recipe | Vegan Tom Kha Recipe
Galangal is not optional and ginger is a very poor substitute. Galangal tastes nothing like ginger, although they look very similar. 

Veg Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup Recipe | Vegan Tom Kha Recipe
Tom Kha soup is supposed to be watery, not thick, so water is a reasonably good base for the soup. However, if you have the patience to make your own vegetable stock or have access to good vegetarian stock cubes, please use that for added flavour. 

Veg Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup Recipe | Vegan Tom Kha Recipe

For more Thai recipes, check out pad thai recipe, vegetarian green curry recipe and also how to make Thai green curry paste at home. Oh and by the way, if you haven’t tasted a good Thai mango sticky rice dessert, you haven’t lived. Just saying.

Vegetarian Thai Tom Kha Soup

Serves 2 generously
Ingredients:
1.5 cups thick coconut milk
1 cup water / vegetable stock
2 stalks of lemongrass
2-3 1″ pieces of galangal
5-6 kaffir lime leaves
4 shallots
1 block of soft tofu cut into 1″ cubes
12 button mushrooms, quartered (or any other variety you like)
4-5 Thai chilli padi / serrano chillies
1 tsp sugar
1 lime
Fresh coriander leaves / cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Discard the bottom 2 inches of the lemongrass. Discard the top woody part and use the middle portion (about 8″ of it) for the soup. Cut this part into small circles and set aside.

2. Roughly chop the galangal, chillies, and shallots. Tear the limes leaves into two.

3. Bring water or vegetable stock to a boil and lower fire to a simmer. Add the galangal, lemongrass, shallots, chillies, sugar, and lime leaves. Keep on simmer for 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the coconut milk and the tofu and mushrooms with some salt. Keep on simmer for another 7-10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.

5. Remove from fire. Squeeze in fresh lime starting with half a lime and then increasing the quantity as you like. Garnish with roughly torn coriander leaves / cilantro. Serve hot.

Veg Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup Recipe | Vegan Tom Kha Recipe
The flavour of Tom Kha soup should be spicy, sour, and sweet from the coconut milk and added sugar. Adjust the ratios according to personal taste.

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  2. Your recipe looks delicious, and I have always loved this soup when I ate it in restaurants! My question is – I am not sure if I can find these things here or where to find them other than in an Oriental store – can you give me some substitutes for galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves? I guess I can use ginger for galangal, even though you say it is not the same, but what about the other two?

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  5. That soup bowl is making me dizzy too …WOW !!

    Here is delhi too we get that kit with all fresh galalngal, lemon grass n kaffir lime leaves , and those pastes too if we are lucky sometimes 🙂
    I am growing my own lemon grass and i use grapefruit leaves to substitute kaffir lime leaves…galangal off course has to be there n i have to buy that..

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  7. Hi Nags
    Yummy looking soup. First time to your space. Loved it. And thanks for all that food photography tips. Never knew we could do so much with Photoshop.
    Do stop by my space when time permits.:)
    Thanks

    Reply

  11. Oh, the soup bowl!!! The soup and soup bowl together is making me dizzy with greed. On another note, Fairprice has a bottled Tom Yum paste (Fairprice brand), which is vegetarian. I have read the ingredients many times over. The taste is really good.

    Reply

  16. Your soup looks beautiful! I've been hunting for a good Tom Kha soup for ages and ages, ever since trying it in a thai restaurant nearby. Definitely giving this a shot over the weekend, thank you! 😀

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  17. I love Thai flavors! And I so agree with you about ginger not being a substitute for galangal. There's a citrus kind of freshness to galangal that the freshets of ginger cannot replace!

    The Tom Kha set reminds me of the Sambar sets we get here–they even include a sprig of curry leaves!

    Bookmarked to try.

    Reply

  20. I came in just to see the soup bowl that Saks mentioned today during lunch. It is indeed very cute. :-). Once I go back, I have start working on my props again. Gave all of them away today. :-(.

    Siri

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  27. 🙂 🙂 🙂 all these smileys exclusively just for the soup bowl 🙂 🙂 🙂 It reminds me of the good times we had together.

    Haa what to say about the soup? I think I will definitely sneak in a piece or two of both chicken and mushrooms. I love the way Thai soups are flavored and now you say its bcoz of that look alike of ginger??

    Reply