Healing Pork and Shrimp Rice Soup (Kao Tom Moo)
This rice soup, with the heady scent and flavor of garlic and ginger, is a perfect remedy for the common cold. It’s ideal when family or friends need gentle, healing food, says Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen, a native of Phuket, Thailand. As a little girl, Pranee’s kitchen chores included grating coconut, pounding curry paste, and cooking rice. She now teaches Thai cooking classes in Seattle. In Thailand, kao tom (literally rice soup) is commonly eaten at breakfast, made using leftover cooked rice. The soup can be made with chicken or pork, but lots of garlic and ginger is a must.
Time: 45 minutes
Makes: 2 large main-course servings
Ingredients:
- 2¼ cups chicken stock (recipe on page 42)
- 1 cup water, plus more as needed
- 2 cups cooked jasmine long-grain rice
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped (1½ tablespoons)
- 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced (2 tablespoons)
- 4 ounces ground pork
- 1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
Garnishes:
- 8 cooked medium shrimp, peeled
- Chopped green onions
- Chopped cilantro leaves
- Ground white or black pepper
Instructions:
- In a large saucepan, bring the stock, water, and rice to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat until it becomes runny and starts to shimmer. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until golden and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t burn them! Reserve half for garnish and add the rest to the soup.
- In the same skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and stir and cook until it just loses its blush, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir the partially cooked pork into the soup. Simmer until the rice grains have absorbed some of the stock and expanded about 1½ times their original size, about 10 minutes total. Adjust the consistency with more water if needed.
- Stir in the spinach, soy sauce, and salt. Return the soup to a boil and crack in the egg (if using) and drizzle with sesame oil. Give it one last stir.
- Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Garnish with the reserved garlic and ginger, shrimp, green onions, and cilantro. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.
Pat’s Notes: Kao tom is thinner than the Chinese version of rice porridge and looks more like rice grains floating in soup. The grains are soft but still whole. As the porridge sits, the texture will thicken. You can adjust the consistency by adding more liquid or enjoy it as is.
