Chicken Coconut Soup

I love this soup so, so much. Just made it last week, and I want to make it again already. For a household of two, you get two very large servings each or three smaller ones.


INGREDIENTS

- three boneless skinless chicken breasts

- coconut or olive oil

- sesame oil

- 2-3 cups of mushrooms, chopped up smallish. Fresh shitake (with woody parts of stems removed) or oyster mushrooms work well. You can use other types of fresh mushrooms, of course, or if you want to go canned then I have tried straw mushrooms with some success as well.

- 2 cups of water, or potentially no-salt-added chicken broth (I keep meaning to try it with broth, but always forget in the heat of the moment).

- 2 tbsp of ginger. I use the pre-pureed stuff in a jar for simplicity.

- 4 tbsp of fish sauce

- 1/3 cup of lime juice

- 2 tsp of red chili paste (sambal oelek)

- 1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro. I like cilantro, so I tend to add lots. Also, running it through the food processor tends to be easier than trying to chop it by hand.

- 2-4 cups of baby bok choy, cut up small enough that you could probably shove the pieces in your mouth all at once. Otherwise it gets awkward later on.

- 2 cans of coconut milk. Something I've noticed since starting to make this recipe is that not all coconut milk is canned equal. Check the ingredients for one that is only coconut and water, without the stabilizers and thickeners and whatever else; the "Aroy-D" brand is good if you can find it. I find that the better quality cans give an overall better flavour and texture to the soup, though I suppose it may be all in my head... the cheaper ones definitely come out of the can a little greyer than the good stuff, which is not all that appealing.
I have also tried adding fresh thai chillis and lemongrass to this recipe, but I found both to be kind of fussy and didn't add very much in the way of final flavour, so they have subsequently been left out. Feel free to try those or other additions, though, if you want to do some recipe tweaking of your own!


INSTRUCTIONS

1) Begin with your chicken, cut into smallish pieces or thin strips. Toss it in a soup pot with some coconut or olive oil, a splash of sesame oil for flavour, and the mushrooms. It's important to let the mushrooms cook a bit until they start to release their water, or you could end up with a mouthful of chewy mushroom later on.

2) Let that sizzle for a while. Once the chicken is browned and the mushrooms are sweating, add the rest of the ingredients except for the coconut milk.

3) Heat that up and let it simmer for about ten minutes or until the bok choy is tender enough for your tastes.

4) Add the coconut milk and simmer for just a little while longer, basically just enough to heat it through and let the flavours start to mingle. 

5) Eat!