Tom Ka Gai (lemongrass soup) w/o the fat?

[mjamonica]

I am crazy about Tom Ka Gai (Lemongrass soup)

I mostly like the lemongrass, but the coconut milk works too!

I've tried lite-coconut milk, but the fat content is still to high?

I've also tried it w/o the coconut milk at all but blech!!!

Has anyone tried a suitable substitute for the fat-laden coconut milk or am I dreaming?

Thanks, Monica

[fifi]

I don't think there is any way to get around the coconut milk. Coconut milk is at the heart of this soup and others like them. If you have some reason to avoid coconut milk then it is best to just pass these soups by. The same goes for some of the curries that rely heavily on the coconut milk. Maybe one of our resident geniuses has a better answer.

I am just curious as to the objection to the fats in the coconut milk. I am looking at the label on a can of Chaudoc (my preferred brand) and it adds up to 21 grams of fat, saturated, no cholesterol for the whole can. I figure that, when used as an ingredient, even a major one, that doesn't seem too bad. You aren't going to eat this stuff every day. Besides, the whole concern about "tropical oils" is starting to look like a bunch of hooey. Unless there is a specific dietary restriction reason, I am not sure I can make a case for avoiding coconut milk. Of course, everything in moderation.

Check out this thread.

This one is pretty good, too.

There are other discussions to be found. I found these by searching on "tropical oils".

[balex]

I am crazy about Tom Ka Gai (Lemongrass soup)

I mostly like the lemongrass, but the coconut milk works too!

I've tried lite-coconut milk, but the fat content is still to high?

I've also tried it w/o the coconut milk at all but blech!!!

Has anyone tried a suitable substitute for the fat-laden coconut milk or am I dreaming?

Thanks, Monica

It's not really a lemongrass soup -- it is a galangal soup. ( with chicken (Gai))

I love it too, but I don't cook it much because I am too lazy to make the coconut milk/cream which is essential. I don't think you can make anything close to this dish without coconut, but if you clarified what your objection to it is, then maybe an alternative would suggest itself. Is it the fat you object to, or the type of fat?

[Pan]

I agree with the others that it's impossible to have Tom Ka soup without coconut milk. How about making Tom Yam soup instead?

[fifi]

I love it too, but I don't cook it much because I am too lazy to make the coconut milk/cream which is essential.

I am not sure I would dream of depriving myself of this soup because of the coconut milk. I get the Chaudoc brand at my local Asian grocery for about 60 cents a can and it is quite good. That brand is recommended in a couple of books I have. I have to go there anyway to get the fresh galangal. It is also nicely separated if you don't shake it so that if you need the coconut cream that floats to the top you can get that too. I don't know of anyone that does their own. I tried it... ONCE. It wasn't worth it and quite frankly not quite as good. A home kitchen doesn't have the equipment, or the fresh coconuts for that matter, to compete with the canned.

[balex]

I had it a few times in Thailand this summer, and I attributed the superiority to the coconut milk. It is a lot of effort to make -- I have a good Thai shop about 100yds from home in London, so the fresh coconuts aren't a problem.

I spent a bit of time looking for a coconut grater (a 'rabbit') in Thailand, but apparently they are now heavily collected and the only nice one I could see cost $500

I'll try the brand you recommend, and give it a whirl.

[fifi]

Please do try it. If you can get the ingredients, you are in luck. We happen to have a vibrant Asian community here in Houston and I have a friend with a kaffir lime tree as a source of the leaves so the two most troublesome ingredients, the fresh galangal and the leaves, are available. From there on it is an easy dish to make. There is also a thread here somewhere on the Thai curries. We pretty much agree that some of the premade curry pastes, particularly Mae Ploy brand, are pretty darn good and handy. I keep the curry paste (it keeps forever) and cans of coconut milk on hand and have the makings of a quick curry from leftovers or whatever. I haven't done a search yet for that thread on the curry paste, but if I find it, I will post a link here. Happy Thai cooking.

[balex]

I often do an easy Thai curry with packet paste, canned milk and so on, and they turn out pretty well. (Most restaurants in London follow this procedure as well.) It's just the coconut milk seems so central an element of this particular dish that I am disappointed with canned milk. -- and this goes for most restaurant versions as well.

[fifi]

I agree on the coconut milk. I have found great variability in the quality of the brands. The "Taste of Thai" brand, generally availble in our mainstream markets, is not that good. My brand recommendations come from, for one, Victor Sodsook, author of True Thai, one of my favorite cook books. David Thompson's book, Thai Food, is pretty obsessive (to the point of making the cuisine almost inaccessible) but instructive. He goes on about the positive aspects of the coconut milk separating out into the cream, etc. This seems to be the difference in the brands. The Chaudoc brand, for instance, does not seem to be artificially homogenized and is, therefore, closer to Thompson's ideal.

edit to add: Thai food is delicious to me, even if indifferently done. Luckily, we have some very good Thai restaurants here. But, if I can make a delicious curry or soup at home it need not exactly match what I can get in Bangkok. If it is delicious in its own right, that is ok by me. David Thompson can rot in hell.

[balex]

That's one of the things that is nice about Thai food -- ok, maybe you or I may not get the balance of tastes just right, but it's quite easy to rustle up three or four dishes and be very pleased with the results.

I agree about Thompson's book being a little unreasonable. His other book is good too -- 100 thai dishes. It doesn't have any photos, just drawings, which I find a pleasant change.