Inspired by travels: Recreate authentic Thai chicken soup at home

We don't just eat exotic dishes while on vacation. However, it's best to find inspiration and recreate them later at home during a trip. A good idea is Thai cuisine and its classic Thai chicken soup: perfectly creamy and temptingly spicy. The right selection of ingredients makes this dish compete even with traditional chicken soup.

Plenty of protein, valuable fats, and vitamins from vegetables are among the ingredients needed to prepare Thai chicken soup. It's good to stock up on exotic additions like lemongrass, soy sauce, and curry paste to reflect the original taste.

Thai cuisine can be off-putting due to overly spicy dishes, but it all depends on the main ingredients. The popular curry paste used for one-pot dishes and soups comes in various levels of spiciness. Yellow curry paste, based on turmeric, is the mildest. The red paste is slightly spicier due to dried red chilli, while green curry paste, based on fresh green chilli peppers, is the spiciest. Interestingly, depending on the region of Thailand, their spiciness may vary slightly.

Thai cuisine features many chicken dishes, but the chicken can also be swapped with shrimp or tofu. You can replace poultry with seafood or a vegan substitute in this recipe. Thai soup in any of these versions will be delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast
• 1.5 litres of broth
• 2 teaspoons of coconut oil
• 250 millilitres of good quality coconut milk
• 1 small onion
• 140 grammes of red pepper
• 110 grammes of mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons of curry paste
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 2.5 centimetres of fresh ginger
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• Thai basil or lemongrass
• To serve: lime and fresh coriander
• Optional: rice noodles

Preparation:

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Wash and dry the pepper and mushrooms. Cut them into smaller pieces. Scrub the ginger thoroughly, peel, and slice.
2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the coconut oil. Add the curry paste and heat for a moment. Cut the chicken into cubes and quickly sauté on both sides in the mixture.
3. Add the garlic and onions and mix everything. Add the pepper and mushrooms, sauté for a while, and pour in the broth.
4. Add the lemongrass, curry powder, soy sauce, and sugar. Cook for about 15 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk; at this point, you can optionally add noodles. Cook for another 5-10 minutes over low heat.
5. Serve with coriander and lime wedges — the juice will instantly season the soup, adding delicious tartness.