Thai Sweet Potato Soup (Tom-Kha Gai)

This brilliant soup was created by equally brilliant Chef Skylar Bush. It's a riff on the classic Thai soup, Tom Kha Gai. With its coconut milk, lemongrass, lime, and piquant fish sauce, it's the perfect foil for in-season sweet potatoes (furnished to us by White's Family Farm). We served this at Wine Down Main Street this past weekend. It didn't take long for word to spread about the soup and a line quickly appeared. Needless to say, we ran out before the night was over. We plan to add tofu, chicken, or turkey and serve it over jasmine or basmati rice for a main dish meal.

Photography By Jill Melton | November 04, 2018

Ingredients

4 small sweet potatoes
2 cups chopped lemongrass
2 red, thai chiles, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup chopped galangal root (or a combination of ginger and cilantro stems)
6 garlic cloves
3/4 cup lime juice, divided
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 cups vegetable stock
3 (12.5-ounce) cans coconut milk
Cilantro leaves

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Roast potatoes 40 minutes or until soft. Cool and peel.

2. Add lemongrass, thai chiles, shallots, galangal root (or cilantro stems), garlic cloves, and 1/4 cup lime juice to a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Heat sesame oil in a saucepan; add lemongrass mixture and sauté 10 minutes or until tender and fragrant. Add remaining 1/2 cup lime juice and fish sauce to deglaze pan.

3. Add stock, coconut milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender (or leave a bit chunky). Serve with cilantro leaves.

Note: Skylar served with a drizzle of coconut cream and sesame seed brittle at the event.