Accidental Callalou
I happen to like Thai food, and tried to replicate a particularly good soup that I’d had at a particularly good Thai restaurant not long ago. I packed some of the leftovers for lunch, and when a coworker asked what I was eating, I rattled off the ingredients. “Oh. So you made Callalou,” he tells me.
Huh?
Well, I had to Google it, but as it turned out, I’d accidentally made a halfway serviceable batch of Callalou. Via Bangkok. It’s not authentic, but it’s tasty (if I may be so humble). It goes something like this:
1 32-ounce container of chicken broth*
1 15-ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk*
2-3 stalks of lemon grass
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained**
Two decent-sized chicken breast filets, cut into chunks***
A clove or two of garlic, crushed
Half a tablespoon of red curry
A splash of sesame oil
Small onion, diced
A handful of diced scallions
A handful of diced mushrooms, if you like them
Dump the broth, coconut milk, lemon grass, spinach and red curry powder into a 6-quart pot and heat over a low flame, stirring from time to time. Come to think of it, dump the spinach in first, or it’s likely to splash and make a bit of a mess.
Anyway. While that’s heating, saute the chicken, onions, and mushrooms in sesame oil, adding the scallions and garlic toward the end so’s not to burn them. Once everything looks good, add to the stuff in the stock pot and simmer for a half hour. If the chicken is browned but hasn’t cooked completely through, don’t sweat it; it’ll finish cooking as it simmers.
Enjoy!
*If you’d like your soup to taste more creamy, use more coconut milk and less broth
**If you’re impatient or if, like me, you tend to get halfway into cooking something and then remember you forgot to defrost the darn spinach, microwave on low power ’til thawed. Drain using a fine wire strainer, squeezing out as much water as possible, since you don’t want the leftover water diluting the flavor.
***If you’d like thinner slices of chicken instead of chunks, stick it in the freezer for about an hour (or, if it’s already frozen, don’t let it thaw completely) before cutting.
Tags: Callalou, fusion cuisine, Thai food, West Indian food