Thai Rice Soup (Khao Tom)
We are waiting for another big snowstorm here in Maine. And honestly, I’m over it. Gosh, I love the snow, and I know it’s only the beginning of March, but I’m ready to see the grass again! Our landscape is covered in icy, petrified mounds of dirty, old snow that have lost ALL of their appeal, even to my kids. My toes, full of blisters they get every winter, are screaming at me for flip-flop weather. And I’m done with my eyelids and gums freezing every time I step outside. Enough already!
No matter what, I’ve been unable to get warm this winter.
Until I made this Thai Rice Soup from Christopher Kimball’s new cookbook, Milk Street: Tuesday Nights
Annnnnd, I’m in love. Toasty warm, comforted, absolutely one hundred percent in love with this soup. I think It’s my new favorite soup ever. Yes, Shannin, better than our favorite Creamy Tomato, better than any Pho I’ve had, better than the Mulligatawny my friend Andrea made for me in LA over twenty years ago, that I still long for.
It’s such an easy soup, but the flavors are simply amazing. The aroma in your kitchen from the sautéed shallots, ginger, garlic and lemongrass will make you forget all about the barren, bitter claws of winter. You almost can’t wait for the broth to simmer down, that’s how much your mouth will be watering as the scents infuse your kitchen. Each taste will warm you from within, like all the best soups do. I almost cried when the leftovers were gone.
The best place to find the recipe is either in the cookbook (which I found at our library, win!) or here on their website https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/thai-rice-soup-khao-tom.
However, their link is only good until October 2019, so I’ll add the recipe at the bottom here too.
The thing I love about Christopher Kimball’s recipes is that he gives so many great tips, for cooks at any level. (Plus, this link has an additional link for fried shallots, in case you want to top your soup with them. I think the shallots are the star ingredient in this soup, all around. I think I want to write an entire essay about shallots. An ode to shallots.)
I would add a few of my tips own here:
- Don’t skimp on the basic ingredients at all, the shallots, ginger and garlic are crucial!
- I have a difficult time finding lemon grass in the icy tundra of Maine, but my grocery store sells a lemon grass paste in the produce section near the herbs. I used two tablespoons in place of lemon grass, and it was awesome!
- Have tons of cilantro and lime and chili-paste to top your soup with. We also added a hard boiled egg, and the next day for lunch I added some quick-charred broccoli. Mmm, hmmm!
- You can absolutely make this vegetarian if you skipped the meatballs and used veggie broth.
- Next time I would only add rice to each person’s bowl as I’m serving it. For example, I wouldn’t add all the rice to the pot at once because when I put the leftover soup away, the next morning the rice had soaked up all the dreamy broth and the entire thing was more like a thick porridge. Tasty porridge, but I lamented the loss of that broth, dearly. You could even eliminate the rice if you didn’t want all that starch.
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce, divided, plus more to serve
- 2 tablespoons chili-garlic sauce, divided, plus more to serve
- Kosher salt and ground white pepper (I used regular pepper)
- 3 tablespoons lard or refined coconut oil (I used a plain olive oil)
- 5 large shallots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (DON'T skimp on these!)
- 8 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 3 lemon grass stalks, trimmed to bottom 6 inches, dry outer leaves discarded, smashed (I used 2-3 tablespoons lemon grass paste)
- 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
- 2 1/2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups cooked jasmine rice
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
- In a medium bowl, mix the pork, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of the chili-garlic sauce and 3/4 teaspoon pepper, Form into 20 small meatballs (about 2 teaspoons each.) Place on a large plate and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Don't skip this step.
- In a large Dutch oven over medium-high, heat the lard/oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and 1/2 teaspoon salt, then cook, stirring, until browned, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the lemon grass and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits, then reduce to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the flavors blend, about 15 minutes.
- Remove and discard the lemon grass stalks (if using.) Add the meatballs, stir gently and simmer over medium until just cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the rice (or add to each guest's bowl at a time) and heat through for about one minute. Off heat, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons fish sauce, the remaining 1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce, the remaining 1 teaspoon pepper, the cilantro and lime juice. Ladle into bowls and serve with chili-garlic sauce and lime wedges.
- Don't forget to chill the meatballs. You don't want them to fall apart when you add them to the broth. You could easily make this vegetarian if you didn't want to add the meatballs and used vegetable broth.
3 Comments
Sarah Mark
This looks absolutely delicious!
Sara Ohlin
Sarah, it is!!! It is my new favorite soup. The broth itself is sooooooooo amazingly delicious, healing, warming, goodness.
Julie
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I tried this and it is soooo good!