Rainy Days and Tom Ka Gai

I left work today in a downpour, but luckily the rain eased up once I got home. Occasionally during the summer, we have rainy days which provide a respite from the thick humidity combined with scorching heat that make summers in Florida almost unbearable. Normally, it will rain like clockwork at 3pm, but only for twenty minutes. Then, the sun peaks out again to remind us pitiful Floridians that it is still in charge. This is a complete opposite from summers growing up in Sacramento, CA, where it didn't rain for months and droughts were common in the dry Sahara-like temperatures.

My Aloe plant was craving a good rain!

It stayed a balmy 73 degrees through the evening with continual rain and cloud cover, which prompted me to wear a light sweater when walking outside. Layers of clothing are rarely seen on Floridians outside a movie theater, but we have no tolerance for chill. Any time the temp gets in the seventies or lower, we wrap ourselves up like the kid in A Christmas Story.

So, even though I just filled my fridge with goodies yesterday (see last post), the "cold" rainy weather prompted me to want soup to-go, but just not any soup; I craved my oh so favorite Tom Ka Gai soup from Thai Thani.

I first discovered Thai food while living in Santa Cruz, CA, and it remains one of my top favorite foods. Whenever I have Thai food, I always feel like I'm rewarding my taste buds with a guessing game of what alien flavors are incorporated into each dish. For those of you who haven't tried Thai, I highly recommend it. Just don't be afraid to order some weird-sounding things, and word to the wise, don't ask for spicy if you don't mean it! I love Thai food so much I even went to Thailand just to get more of it. Tom Ka Gai is one of my favorites, and if you like coconut, this soup is for you!

Tom Ka Gai, sometimes called just Tom Ka, is a soup of few ingredients, but full of flavor. Typically prepared with chicken, mushrooms, galangal (a Thai ginger), lemon grass and lime juice in coconut milk, this soup has a simple warmth to it that makes it a good start to any Thai meal. The chicken is lean, and the coconut broth is light, but the galangal and lemongrass are what really make this exotic. Don't be alarmed if you see a pieces of these in your soup or a leaf or two, which I have heard is common in Thai cuisine. These are not typically edible, but I like to chew on the fibrous galangal for added flavor.

 My vat of Tom Ka Gai. Agreed it's fairly beige in color but its coconut flavor is unbeatable!

A large Tom Ka Gai can easily be a meal in itself, but I chose to compliment it with a Summer Rolls appetizer. These are not fried rolls, and are made with a thin rice pancake (so thin you can see through), that surrounds shrimp, rice noodles, bean sprouts, carrots and basil and comes with a delicious concentrated soy bean sauce. They have a very unique flavor and texture, but have a good light feeling to them while still filling you up.

All in all this was an excellent and interesting take out meal. The soup warmed me up while the summer rolls were a cool and tasty compliment. So glad I found such great Thai food at Thai Thani!