Vegetarian tom kha

Name: Vegetarian tom kha
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk; 600 ml vegetable stock, labelled gluten free; 6 cm piece of galangal, thinly sliced; 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised and cut into lengths; 6 kaffir lime leaves, crushed; 300 g button or oyster mushrooms, halved; 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 tbsp palm sugar; 1½ tsp salt; Juice of 2 limes; 3 bird's eye chillies, crushed; A bunch of fresh coriander

Local name: ต้มข่า

A Thai coconut soup singing with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime, loaded with mushrooms and finished with lime.

Published on 20 February 2026

VeganGluten-free#soup#coconut#lemongrass#mushrooms#thai

Photo: veganLazySmurf , CC BY 2.0

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 35 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Bring the stock to a simmer with the galangal, lemongrass and four lime leaves, and infuse covered for 10 minutes.
Add the coconut milk, palm sugar and salt, then hold the soup just below a simmer; never let it boil hard.
Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until tender but still firm.
Stir in the cherry tomatoes and crushed chillies and cook 3 minutes more.
Take the pan off the heat before adding the lime juice: over high heat it turns bitter.
Taste and rebalance the sour, salty and sweet until all three ring clearly.
Shred in the last lime leaves, add the coriander, and serve with jasmine rice.

The galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves flavour the broth but aren’t meant to be eaten: warn your guests, or fish them out before serving. Traditional tom kha uses fish sauce, replaced here by salt and a well-flavoured stock.

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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 265 kcal
Protein: 5.5 g
Fat: 21.5 g
Carbohydrate: 18.8 g
Fibre: 1.7 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why add the lime juice off the heat?

Heated, it loses its fragrance and turns flatly bitter. Take the pan off the heat before squeezing it in, then rebalance the sour, salty and sweet at that moment.

Are the aromatics meant to be eaten?

No. The galangal, lemongrass and makrut lime leaves flavour the broth but stay fibrous and inedible. Warn your guests or fish them out before serving. Only the finely shredded lime leaves added at the end are eaten.

What stands in for the traditional fish sauce?

Here salt and a good strong vegetable stock take over. Fish sauce mainly brought saltiness and depth, so taste and be readier to salt than usual, adjusting the palm sugar and lime each time you do.

Coconut milk, from Kerala to the Caribbean
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