Thai Style Chicken Soup

I love Thai food and especially the soup but sometimes, it's so expensive for such a small serving of the Tom Kha or Tom Yum soups so I decided to try my hand at making my own.  

I decided to try this Thai Chicken Soup recipe I found on Allrecipes.com.  The first time I made it, it was a little bit bland tasting because I'd forgotten the shallots, didn't use canned coconut milk (for cooking) and didn't use enough red curry paste.  The second time came out absolutely delicious and the only minor thing I would change is add a little more of the red curry paste for more heat but it came out very tasty. I forget that coconut milk can cancel out some of the heat.  I changed up the recipe a little because I like my soup a bit more chunky so this is more of a Thai style soup instead of an authentic recipe.  Not sure this Chinese girl can make an authentic recipe .  Ha!


3 shallots, sliced
cilantro
crimini mushrooms
thinly sliced chicken (however much you want but I used 5 pieces of the cut chicken breasts)
cooked shrimp without tail (however much you want)
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can sliced bamboo shoots
1 can cut baby corn
2 cans coconut milk
2 cans chicken broth
1 tbs grape seed oil
3 tsp fish oil (found at the Asian market)
2 heaping tbs (or to your taste) of red curry paste (found mine at Wholefoods)
juice of 2 limes
jasmine rice (optional)


Heat the grape seed oil in the pot you are using for the soup.  Cook the shallots and a handful of the cilantro until the shallots are translucent.  Add in the chicken broth and the coconut milk.  When its starts to simmer, add in the crimini mushrooms, water chestnuts, baby corn and bamboo shoots.  In a small bowl, combine the fish oil, lime juice and red curry paste.  Once the paste is not lumpy, stir the mixture into the soup.  Add the chicken in and stir every few minutes to make sure the chicken doesn't stick together and cooks properly.  Once the chicken looks cooked, add in the shrimp.  Simmer for a few more minutes and serve over jasmine rice. 

Just some notes:
The fish oil smells fishy but it doesn't make the soup taste or smell fishy unless you add in the entire bottle.   

I meant to get lemongrass paste too (I can't seem to find fresh lemongrass) to give it a little more Thai flavor but I kept forgetting to get it.