I’ve been looking for a decent, authentic-tasting coquito recipe for years with my family. After trying the entire egg yolk thing, just adding ingredients to standard eggnog, and other things, I discovered that the most straightforward was the best-tasting. This recipe makes sure that everyone at the party has a taste, but you might want to double it as most people won’t be satisfied with just a shot’s amount.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons peanut oil
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
- ¼ cup chopped lemon grass
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into thin strips
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups bok choy, shredded
- 4 cups water
- 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat peanut oil. Stir in garlic, ginger, lemon grass, red pepper, coriander and cumin and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. Stir in chicken and onion and cook, stirring, until chicken is white and onion is translucent, 5 minutes. Stir in bok choy and cook until it begins to wilt, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in water, coconut milk, fish sauce and cilantro. Simmer until chicken is thoroughly cooked and flavors are well blended, 30 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 255 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 1158 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Yummy. I added mushrooms, shrimp instead of chicken and rice noodles.
We’ve made Tom Ka Gai soup before and this was not the best recipe. It was just okay. We are fortunate to have an Asian store within a mile from our house where we buy all our ingredients. They advised us to not eat the lemongrass and to put large chunks of it for flavor and strained out before eating. Very good advice.
This recipe is pretty good. I’ve been fortunate enough to taste the real thing in Thailand. Firstly, DO NOT USE THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF FISH SAUCE. Maybe half. Fish sauce has a very strong flavor and it was a bit too fishy. That brings me to say add fresh hand squeezed lemon juice if you can’t find lime leaves as other users recommended. I did a 2 serving recipie and used half a lemon juiced. Other than that pretty close.
I did 2 cups chicken broth & 2 cups water with mine and it seemed to even out the flavors. Also, I too suggest simmering the chicken in the coconut milk after searing it so it absorbs more of that flavor. I cut the fish oil in half too since I wanted more of a chicken flavor. I didn’t have lemongrass, and I know this isn’t the same… but I added about 1tsp of lemon zest instead and I think it gave a nice citrus to the soup. I usually use sesame oil for a lot of Asian dishes, so if you don’t do peanut it’s a good substitute.
THIS RECEIPE MAKES YOU HAPPY TO BE ALIVE!!
We love this recipe! Made as directed with less crushed pepper (for children’s taste buds). With rice it’s a meal all to itself.
Great base and an even better soup after some much needed tweaks. After my adjustments, my husband – who does not love Asian inspired foods or leftovers – loved it so much he asked for it by name the next day for lunch. My changes: First, do not chop up the lemongrass and mix in. Leave it in bigger pieces that you can remove later. (It’s too fibrous to eat easily and clashes with the textures in the soup.) Second, reduce the fish oil to 1 tablespoon. Third, add more than one chicken breast. I did 3, which in the end bulked this soup up to 6-8 servings. Fourth, please oh please add mushrooms or you’ll regret it and use 1-2 teaspoons of chili-garlic paste instead of red pepper flakes. Finally, add more liquid – 1 extra can of coconut milk, 1 more cup of chicken stalk, 2 more cups of water, and at least 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Husband and children LOVED it this way, and I was really worried it would be too exotic for them. Will definitely make again with my updates.
I really like this soup, however I found it way spicier than I thought it would be. My partner loved it however and said it was his favorite soup I’ve made thus far! I did find that the white coconut milk became clear after the 30 minutes of simmering… not sure why… any suggestions?
Love the flavours in this soup. I always add way more veggies though: carrots, mushrooms, bean sprouts, peppers. It makes it hearty and delicious. Also, I don’t chop the lemon grass… I just keep it whole and toss it in while the soup simmers (I bruise it with the back of my knife first to release the juices though). I am not a fan of the texture. Just remove before serving.
I L-O-V-E Thai food so I decided to give this recipe a try. I was a little hesitant at first because I have never worked with some of these ingredients before. It turned out perfect! If I could, I would eat this every single day. This soup is my new soul food. It was rich and flavorful with a soft heat that is perfect on a chilly day. The only thing I might change next time was I might take out the lemongrass because it gave a weird texture to the soup.
I have made this twice. The first as per directions the second with the following substitutions: used red curry paste instead of red pepper, doubled remaining spices. Used two cups of chicken stock and two tins of coconut milk, (no water) added Kafir Lime leaves at the start and lime juice with the spinach (i don’t like Bok Choy) A solid base recipe and easy to tweak
This soup is absolutely delicious! Tastes like what you get in a Thai restaurant. I followed the recipe almost exactly, except that I reduced the crazy amount of red pepper called for to 1/2 tsp, subbed in chicken stock for 2 c of the water, added some sliced button mushrooms with the bok choy, and also used lemongrass paste since that’s what was available at the grocery store. Even with the reduced amount of red pepper it was still very spicy. Next time I will reduce the red pepper even more, as I will be serving for guests. I will also reduce the fish sauce by a third to 3 Tbsp. Will also probably used a little less than 1 onion – not because it tasted bad but because there just seemed to be so much of it at the end. I was getting spoonfuls of onion, which might be off-putting to some guests.
Really excellent! While I often experiment with recipes, I follow this one quite closely and get fantastic results each time. Definitely on par with our favorite Thai restaurant.
So good.
awesome and easy
Cut down on spice; for 6 used 2 cans coconut milk and 2 chicken broth.
Great! However, too much Bok Choy. Would have liked it as a garnish, not so much bulk. Also, added another can of coconut milk.
I made this last night with no substitutions (other than ginger powder instead of fresh). I added a little more chicken, but that’s it. I wasn’t wowed, but my husband loved it! Next time I would reduce the water and add more coconut milk so it is creamier. I would also add some lime juice at the end.
This was really good! The only ingredient I did not have was the fish sauce. I also made this with pork instead of chicken. I will definitely be making this again!
Fantastic! This soup is both mine and my boyfriends favorite soup EVER. I substituted the bok choy for one red bell pepper, and 2 cups mushrooms. Also I left out the fish sauce, and used regular oil both due to allergies… Still turned out perfect! Just like at a Thai restaurant. Season with lemon juice to taste!
This may not be perfectly authentic, but I was fairly pleased with the result. The instructions to cook chicken breast for a half hour after it’s basically fully cooked in the pan, though, can only result in a tough piece of chicken. So I think I would change the order..first cook the spices, then the veg, then add the liquid and *then* toss in the chicken. I made some substitutions here because I didn’t have everything the recipe called for. So I’m rating this more for the method than the specific flavor of the exact combo of ingredients. I took off one star for the tough chicken. We served ours with Quinoa, which was interesting but maybe not the most successful. I also did not have lemongrass, which I think would have been lovely. But this method is a great use of bok choy, it goes very well with the coconut milk and fish sauce and ginger.