One of my favourite places to eat in my hometown of Andover is Siam Orchid which is a tiny hidden gem of a Thai Resturant. The food they make is fresh, tasty, vibrant and delicious. The staff are friendly and it’s pretty reasonably priced to be honest. We haven’t been for a while but when we do go we opt for the all you can eat menu which is four amazing courses for about £20 per person and you can have as much as you like per course. The courses include starters, shredded duck, soup and then a main course. My favourite on the menu is the Coconut Soup which comes with either chicken, prawns or vegetables. It is delicious. I have been back several times trying a few new things but always enjoying the soup.
Just after Christmas I went around clearing my kitchen cupboards and moving things around and found a recipe book for soups and amongst these recipes was a Thai-style coconut chicken noodle soup. Yesterday I decided to take it upon myself to try this recipe out and see if it tasted the same. None of the ingredients seemed like they would be very expensive and some of them are key ingredients in other Asian flavours. I am looking forward to trying new foods this year as part of project 52. I did have to adapt the recipe a little as couldn’t find Spring Onions, Coriander, Lemongrass or Lime Leaves and I substituted the chicken for turkey, just because it’s cheaper and used the grind of a lime and a lemon, plus the juice. I also used dry noodles rather than the straight to wok kind and didn’t make my own stock but even with those few shortcuts it was still pretty much made fresh and was very, very tasty.
To make you need:
2tbsps sunflower oil,
3 shallots finely chopped,
4 green chillies seeded and chopped,
2 tsp grated fresh root ginger (I used ‘sushi ginger’),
2 garlic cloves crushed,
2 lemongrass stalks chopped,
4 kaffir lime leaves shredded,
400ml coconut milk,
800 ml chicken stock,
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces or your choice of protein – I used turkey
85g baby corn quartered lengthways,
200g fine wheat noodles,
1-2tbsp Thai fish sauce (smells a bit like feet – but doesn’t taste bad, I promise!)
Juice of 1 lime,
bunch of spring onions sliced
and a handful of fresh coriander.
Method
I added the oil to a saucepan and then added the chopped garlic and shallots with the turkey whilst cooking the noodles in the stock – I used a stock cube to make this with boiling water. I then added the chillies, ginger and vegetables to the chicken or turkey, juice and rind of the lemon and lime and once the noodles were fully cooked I added the stock and noodles to the turkey.
I then added the fish sauce and coconut milk and gave it a good stir keeping it simmering the whole time. All together it probably took about 45 minutes to prepare and cook and I was incredibly pleased with the result.
It tasted very nice and I went on to have seconds, and then thirds later that night. Ours was enough for about four servings however the recipe can be very easily adapted to serve more people. I’m going to experiment a bit more and then come up with a perfect Thai menu to share with some family and friends.
This sounds yummy and would also be a healthy and great value lunch option x
Especially if you make a big batch and freeze in portions!
Pinned this to try later as it sounds really yummy! And you’re right, thai fish sauce does smell like feet!