Tom Kha Tofu Recipe
Make this tom kha tofu recipe and enjoy my absolute favorite Thai soup! A creamy coconut broth infused with lemongrass, galangal, ginger and fish sauce, with chunks of tofu, sweet potatoes and green beans!
I feel like we need to start this post with a moment of silence for Earth Fare, which just announced it was closing all 50 of it’s locations last week.
Earth Fare was the grocery store closest to our house, and as someone who a.) always forgets at least 3 items from the grocery list b.) frequently sleeps in and needs to grab a frozen breakfast burrito on the way to the office and c.) gets cravings for stupidly expensive “wellness” drinks on the way home from work, I was in there at least 3 days a week. When I was a kid, my second cousin was best friends with the guy who opened the first Earth Fare in Asheville, so every time we visited him a breakfast or lunch from their hot bar/deli at the OG Earth Fare was in order. I even worked with Earth Fare, doing recipe and content development for their website, so clearly I’ve been a long time fan! Now the closest non-Food Lion grocery store is a few miles away (technically we live in a food desert) and I’m just really sad about the whole thing.
When I woke up in the middle of the night with a tickle in my throat, I panicked slightly, realizing I don’t really know how I’m going to feed myself when I’m sick. Whenever I’ve had a cold or am just feeling under the weather, I’ve been able to manage a quick Earth Fare run for fancy ramen and a can of Amy’s Thai coconut soup. I don’t know why but when I’m sick, besides the normal soup craving, I pretty much exclusively crave Asian flavors, and live off a combination of ramen, takeout pho, frozen dumplings and tom kha soup.
Anyway, thinking about not having my favorite sick day food right down the road reminded me that I’ve had this tom kha tofu recipe that I’ve been meaning to update for you! Thankfully I did not come down with that cold, and I got to have yummy coconut soup for a few days!
What is Tom Kha Tofu?
Tom kha is a popular Thai coconut soup. If you’ve been to a Thai restaurant, you’ve surely seen tom kha on the menu. Tom means soup and kha means galangal, which is a rhizome (stem of a plant) that’s kinda sorta similar to ginger. While they look the same, galangal has a sharp flavor that’s citrusy with a hint of pine, so they shouldn’t be used interchangeably.
Tom kha gai is the most popular iteration of the soup, made with chicken (gai = chicken). In this tom kha recipe I used tofu, which soaks up the yummy flavor from the broth! Despite using tofu, it’s not vegetarian, as the recipe uses fish sauce. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, feel free to use this recipe for vegan fish sauce, or try this store bought vegan fish sauce. I haven’t tried them before so I don’t know how it compares to the original, but let me know if you have!
Tom Kha Tofu Ingredient Substitutes
If you can, I would highly recommend using all the ingredients as listed. While I wouldn’t call this tom kha tofu recipe authentic because, well, I’m not Thai and technically this recipe was inspired by my favorite Amy’s canned soup, I did take care to include the most important flavors - lemongrass, lime leaves and galangal - even though the ingredients might be a bit hard to find.
I found lime leaves at Whole Foods with the fresh herbs. If you can’t find them, I would use zest of a lime or two. If you do find fresh lime leaves, freeze any extras. You can also order dried kaffir lime leaves online and I presume you would use the same number the recipe calls for. Use leftover lime leaves to keep making this yummy soup, or try these red curry noodles or laksa, a Malaysian curry noodle soup.
Galangal may be the hardest ingredient to find. I think I’ve seen it at Whole Foods before, but I can’t remember. I got mine at an Asian market. My favorite in Columbia is Hyundai Oriental Grocery, but I also go to Asian Market. If you don’t normally shop at Asian markets, don’t be intimidated! It’s really fun to check out new foods and ingredients, and the employees are always incredibly helpful. While you’re there, stock up on frozen dumplings, kimchi, noodles and fun sauces. If you can’t find galangal, technically you could leave it out and use more ginger instead and I promise it will still be delicious (I’ve done this before in a pinch). But really, for a recipe with a translation of galangal tofu soup, it’s worth the effort to hunt down!
Lemongrass is one that I don’t know if there’s a good substitute for! It says you can use lemon zest online, but honestly, I just don’t believe it! Luckily lemongrass is a little easier to find. It’s often sold with fresh herbs at well stocked grocery stores. I actually really like to use lemongrass paste when I can because it’s so darn easy.
Fish sauce also might be a new to you ingredient. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to find at most grocery stores with the soy sauces. I know fish sauce doesn’t sound very appealing and it especially doesn’t sound appealing when I tell you it’s made from fish and krill that have been salted and fermented, but it’s SO delicious! It’s got a salty, umami flavor that’s essential in southeast Asian cooking. I’ve also seen it used to add a bit of umami to tomato sauces and salad dressings.
Tom Kha Tofu Recipe Notes
While I don’t think it’s traditional to add sweet potato and green beans to this soup, I love the addition of them in Amy’s soup so I threw them in here. While I think it’s important to respect cultural recipes, cooking is also about what you like as well!
In making this tom kha tofu recipe, I definitely wouldn’t use low fat coconut milk. I don’t care how much fat is in regular canned coconut milk, it is delicious and creamy and essential and you must use it. Like regular milk, coconut milk can curdle and separate, so don’t bring it to a boil. I like to heat coconut milk on medium.
For the tofu, I recommend using firm tofu. It’s a little softer than extra-firm tofu and will soak up the broth, but won’t fall apart like silken tofu.
Don’t eat the lime leaves, ginger, galangal, and lemongrass in this recipe! it’s just for flavoring. You could add it to the soup using a mesh bag or similar, but I just let it float around in there and leave it at the bottom of my bowl. Same goes for the chili - please don’t bite into that!
Traditionally tom kha is served with steamed rice, but it’s also really delicious with rice noodles!
If you like this tom kha tofu recipe, follow my Asian recipes Pinterest board for more cooking inspiration.
This tom kha tofu recipe was originally published December 2014. Recipe, images and text have been updated to give you the best possible content.
Tom Kha Tofu Recipe
Serves 6ish
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed and sliced
1 large shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup ginger, sliced into thin rounds, lightly pressed with the back of a spoon to release juices
1/4 cup galangal, sliced into thin rounds, lightly pressed with the back of a spoon to release juices
2 stalks lemongrass, thick outer skin removed, softer bottom part cut into 1-inch pieces
6 lime leaves
2 14-ounce cans coconut milk (not non-fat)
6 lime leaves, pressed lightly with the back of a spoon to release flavors
2 cups diced sweet potato
1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 14-ounce cans full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup lime juice (from about 2 limes)
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 Thai chiles or serrano chiles, cut in half lengthwise
1 lb tofu, cut into cubes
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons sugar
Lime wedges, for serving
Chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Sriracha hot sauce or chili paste, for serving
Steamed rice or cooked rice noodles, optional, for serving
Instructions:
Heat coconut oil in a large Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden and tender. Stir in shallots, and cook a minute or two to soften. Pour in broth, and stir in ginger, galangal, lemongrass, and lime leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and cook 5 minutes to infuse with flavor.
Stir in sweet potatoes and green beans, partially cover and cook 15 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender with a slight bite.
Stir in coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, chiles, tofu, salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Partially cover and continue cooking over medium heat to warm through.
Taste and season with additional salt and sugar as desired. Serve soup garnished with lime wedges, cilantro, hot sauce or chili paste, and rice or noodles, if using.
If you like this Tom Kha Tofu recipe, you might also like:
Vegetarian Ramen Noodle Soup
Green Curry Avocado Noodles
Lemongrass Chicken Noodle Bowl with Peanut Sauce
