Tom Kha Gai in the Slow Cooker
I had chicken legs to use up and I wanted to make two dishes so I used the chicken thighs to make Tom Kah Gai in the slow cooker. I borrowed most of the recipe from this great Slow Cooker Tom Kha Gai recipe from Love & Olive Oil (you guys are amazing) but I ad libbed a bit because I couldn’t find fresh galangal and I got lazy (surprise, surprise). The result was really very good. How do I know? Well, I tried a spoonful when I got home from an evening out…and ended up eating a whole bowl.
Ingredients
- 8 skinless chicken thighs
- 3 C chicken broth (I just used McCormack’s bullion cubes)
- 2 cans coconut milk
- 2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed, peeled and cut diagonally into 1″ pieces
- 1/2 red onion, cut in quarters
- 1 1-inch pieces ginger root, peeled
- 2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste (I used de Siam which I found at Market Meats – thanks guys, ever helpful). I couldn’t find galangal at any of the three grocery stores I went to so I substituted this paste which had both galangal and red chillis and it worked just fine.
- 10 to 12 ounces mushrooms (I just used brown crimini), stems removed and cut in three.
- 8 kaffir lime leaves (I used dried and they worked fine)
- 1/4 C fish sauce
- Juice of one lime juice
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
Directions
- Put chicken, chicken broth, coconut milk, lemongrass, red onion chunks, ginger root, mushrooms, Thai red chili paste and the kaffir lime leaves into your slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken to cool so you can take it off the bone.
- Add fish sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar to taste.
- Add back the chicken. Stir and garnish with fresh cilantro if you feel like it (I didn’t bother).
I would serve this over rice (it happens to be what I always had for lunch at Urban Thai Bistro in Vancouver when my office was in Yaletown).
Serves 4-6.