Tom kha thale

When I walked into P&K, the grocer smiled. After I asked for lemon grass, galangal, kaffir, and lime, he asked if I was making tom kha.  I said yes.  He told me I could buy a kaffir plant for $20.  He asked if I was planning to use mushrooms and I remembered that I didn't have any.  He offered to sell me some mushrooms and young corn but unfortunately these were in a can packed in brine and I couldn't bring myself to do it although he assured me that they were very good.

He also pointed out the tom kha  paste that could be used to make the soup in lieu of buying the separate veggies. I hesitated and said that fresh was better. He agreed, adding that lazy people like the paste.  He started talking about how good tom kha is, especially when it's hot out of the pot. 

Once I got home I knew I needed something to make a complete meal. All I had was fresh kale and frozen okra so I googled thai kale and a host of curried recipes (similar to the string bean concoction I made) came back. For some reason they seemed inauthentic. Thai food is more than coconut milk. I saw a stir fry kale with garlic and oyster sauce and decided I would go for it.  Although upon further investigation, I learned that the kale was not the same vegetable that I had. 

I made the soup and it is now clear that ginger is not a proper substitute for galangal.  The kale was easy - I blanched it, sauteed garlic and ginger, added the kale and tossed with oyster sauce.