Tom Kha Gai Soup

Brian's been dying for me to try and make his favorite Tom Kha Gai soup.

After perusing several recipes off the internet, I finally made a hybrid that turned out so well, I asked Brian if there's anything he'd change, and he said it was fantastic!

AND, if he WERE to make any changes, he'd have to go down to the Thai Restaurant in town to make a side-by-side comparison...

So here it is:

2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into bite-size pieces and cooked.
2 14 ounce cans coconut milk
2 cups water
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
2 TBSP minced ginger root (I bought the stuff in the tube at the grocery store and it worked fine)
2 stalks of lemongrass, cut into one-inch lengths (this is optional, but I found some in an Asian market here in town).
4 TBSP fish sauce
1 TBSP loose brown sugar (Thai secret to fish sauce is to offset the salty fish stuff with a little sweetness/It WORKS)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 TBSP cayenne pepper
1/2 TSP ground turmeric
2 stalks of thinly sliced green onion
1/8 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) Cut chicken and saute in oil for a few minutes til cooked
2) In a pot, bring coconut milk and water to a low boil. Reduce heat. Add chicken, ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, cayenne pepper and turmeric and mushrooms. Simmer 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with scallions and fresh cilantro and serve.

Serves 4-6, depending on how big of a bowl you want.