Chicken and coconut milk soup

I have to admit... I'm not addicted to soups.

Despite this I recently had dinner at a Thai restaurant and I decided to bring back some good feelings from one of my trip to the East ordering a Tom-Kha. It was awesome!

I do not want to teach you how to cook this particular dish, I think you can find better recipes. I just want to give you some advices to prepare a good tasting soup without the need of exotic ingredients, the sole special guest is the coconut milk! For the rest you can use what you have at home.

As I mentioned before this is an Italian remix of that Thai dish... For example I do not like cabbage and I replaced it with lettuce. Mushrooms should be used but if you do not have them simply go ahead. Meat stock is needed and to get closer to the original recipe you should also use some fish stock (I was able to get some fish gelatin sheets). If you do not have homemade broth use stock cubes as last resource.

Start cutting ginger and finely chop it. When the stock begins to boil, add the ginger, let it stand for a minute and then add the coconut milk. Cover it and reduce heat. In the meanwhile cut the leek in circles and slice peppers (green capiscum is better even though I had only a yellow one) and lettuce into strips.

In a nonstick-pan sear the leeks for a few seconds and then add soy and pepper. Gently mix and then add lettuce. Sprinkle with a little sugar and a splash of lemon. Do not exceed the minute otherwise it becomes too dry.

Add the chicken (previously cut into cubes) to the soup, and sprinkle it with half of a stock cube. Mix it well and add blanched vegetables, dried mushrooms and chives. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook over medium heat for about 15/20 minutes, cover the pan with a lid to avoid drying.

Just before turning off the heat add some blades of chives (if you have them) and adjust with hot pepper or chili (if you like it). The original recipe also features some lemon grass leaves... so, if you want, you can add sliced lemon or lemon juice.