Germs Run Screaming Soup

(Migrated from a social media post from 2014)

I've had a number of requests for this the last few years.     After scrounging about for a copy, here is the "recipe" for  (a semi-homemade) Germs Run Screaming Soup:

I start with Tom Ka Gai ("coconut ginger soup" with chicken), and add  garlic and chopped spinach (which are not traditionally used in TKG). I use the commercial paste from A Taste of Thai.    The package looks like this:

https://www.mysupermarket.com/landingpages/product.aspx?productid=20202&skipregister=true&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Search_US&utm_campaign=Google&utm_content=CPC48303&banner=248303

Fairway Market in NYC carries this, and sometimes you can find it at Wegman's as well as online.   One of my SE PA friends said the Giant stores in her area also carry it.    The Taste of Thai website has a "Find product in a store" button, but the product doesn't have its own page--you have to click "Products" and then "Soups and Sauces"...   http://www.atasteofthai.com/  

Package directions state to add water or chicken broth, and one can of coconut milk, along with uncooked white meat chicken, sliced thin.   After the chicken is done, I add half a box of frozen spinach, and garlic (or garlic powder) to taste.

NOTE:    Taste of Thai's label is misleading in that the critical spice in Tom Kah Gai is not ginger, but galangal,   the root of which looks a bit similar but has a very different taste.     Once, when I had no soup base,  I tried to make the soup from scratch, not knowing about the galangal.    It made a perfectly good pot of soup, but not "the right soup", if you understand me.    The blogger below also draws a distinction between galangal preserved as part of a paste, and the dried stuff, citing the paste as much superior if fresh is unavailable.   I think I may have tried one batch of soup with dried galangal, and that wasn't as efficacious either. This lady has posted both a recipe for Tom Kha Gai from scratch, and reviews of a couple of commercial pastes.    Some of these brands might be available in Asian food stores (which, I must say, I miss rather dreadfully sometimes down here in the Rockaways).http://shesimmers.com/2010/11/tom-kha-gai-recipe-tutorial-for.html

The entry with a few words and pix about Tom Kha paste is here: http://shesimmers.com/2012/08/tom-yam-and-tom-kha-mixes-how-and-when-to-use-them.html

As prepared, this soup does contain meat.    I haven't tried it with tofu.    If one of you does, let me know how it comes out?     As prepared, the soup is low-carb / gluten-free  and (I think) paleo-friendly.    I take the makings with me to Pennsic, in cooler-free form, and canned chicken serves the purpose, although you might want a bit of broth or stock for a deeper flavor. 

I am not a Pharmacist.     I am not approved by the FDA.    This particular brand of chicken soup has no scientifically-vetted proof of efficacy, any more than the colloquial "Jewish Penicillin".    It's simply something that makes me feel better when I get sick, often enough for me to want to share, and to keep the makings in my kitchen.    

My next experiment will involve the microwave, since I was feverish enough over the weekend to not want to turn on the stove (and perhaps forget having done so)...  #GermsRunScreaming