Today I am going to give you two recipes with the boiling technique but in each of the recipes other techniques and different ingredients are introduced. This is especially true with the Tom Kah Gai, which shows the influence of the Portuguese with the introduction of coconut milk in savory dishes. Coconut or products derived from coconuts are generally used in the making of desserts prior at the arrival of the Portuguese and trade contacts with the outside worlds. With the introduction of coconut milk to Thai soups and curries, it clearly shows outside influences in the development of Thai cuisine. Coconut milk gives our soups and curries a richer and slightly sweet flavor to our dishes. We Thais were not used to rich food but rather simple broth well balanced with saltiness from fish sauce, sourness from various ingredients such as lime, tamarind pods and tips of tamarind leaves or even Thai fruits such as Thai water olives and Ma Yom. So here goes the two soup recipes:


 <<<Ingredients for Tom Kah Gai.

Directions:
1. Put the coconut milk in a pot and bring to boil. Add chicken soup cubes, lemongrass stalks, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and the sliced chicken pieces. Bring back to boil until the chicken is cooked.
2. Add the grilled banana blossom slices. Bring back to a boil and add the coconut cream.
3. Bring the soup back to boil and season the soup with fish sauce and lime juice and crushed chili peppers.
4. Before taking the soup off heat, add the coriander leaves and the fried chili peppers. You will need to taste you soup for the right seasoning. It should be sour and salty and slightly sweet from the natural sweetness of the coconut milk not from sugar.
5. Serve the soup in a bowl. It can be eaten with rice or as a soup course.

Tips:                 Finished products.  Tom Kah Gai>>>
- Coconut milk and coconut cream differs only in the fact that coconut cream has more fat then the coconut milk. If you bought coconut milk in UHT form, allow the carton to sit for a while before using it. As you pour the coconut milk out to use, the milk at the top of the carton is the cream and you will notice as you pour more out of the carton the liquid will be lighter; that’s the milk. If you want a fairly rich coconut milk, just shake the carton before you pour it out.
- Other vegetables can be used in this soup but they should not have a flavor or scent that over powers the soup. Mushrooms are ideal for this soup.

Directions:
1. Bring the broth to boil and add the slightly crushed roasted garlic, shallots and chili peppers.
2. Allow the soup to come back to boil and the scent of the roasted garlic etc. has permeated into the broth. One minute should be more than enough.
3. Season the soup with fish sauce and tamarind pulp juice. Taste it and do not put too much tamarind pulp juice into the soup because the leaves are also sour. Then all the picked dry fish meat into the pot and allow to come back to a boil.

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