Cheating on Thai food

Or, “How to make Thai food when you don’t actually have Thai ingredients in the house”

I just made tom kha seafood without going to the store for special ingredients. Score! Although I admit, I use canned coconut milk for other things, so I did already have that on hand.

Here’s what’s in this soup:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 or 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 package frozen mixed seafood from Trader Joes
• 1 package fresh mushrooms
• 1 package snap peas (they were a bit tough, I should have stringed them, but I was too lazy)
• A spoon of dried minced ginger (fresh sliced ginger root is best, but ANY kind of ginger will do in a pinch)
• generous splash (maybe 1/4 cup?) of lime juice (kaffir lime leaves is best, but who has that?)
• crushed red chile flakes or sriracha sauce or whatever you’ve got to add some heat
• mint leaves (Thai basil is best, but it’s similar to mint)
• Salt to taste
• Fish sauce would have been good but I didn’t have any, and anyway, I did add the frozen seafood mix, so that was something at least.