This is the soup I make when there's a cold virus in the house. It has a lot of immune-boosting ingredients and the heat will clear your sinuses!

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 small onion, diced
1 sweet red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic (or more!), minced
about 1" piece ginger root, grated
a splash of fish sauce, if you're into that!
squeeze of lime juice
red curry paste to taste - make it hot if you're sick.
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 5.6-oz can coconut milk (Aroy D is the brand I use)
6 oz chicken, cooked
Sweetener to taste - I use few drops of liquid splenda

Heat the coconut oil in a sauce pan. Sautee the onion and pepper until soft. Add the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, lime juice, and curry paste. Stir in the chicken broth and coconut milk. Add the chicken and sweetener, heat through.

Makes 2 servings.

Don't worry if you're missing a couple of the ingredients. I've made it many times without the fish sauce or lime and it still turns out tasty. This isn't quite an authentic tom ka gai; it's meant to kick a cold... hence the red bell pepper. The heat probably kills the vitamin C, but... what the heck.

Nutrition using skinless chicken breast and canned chicken broth: 362 calories, 22 g fat, 11 g carb - 3 g fiber = 8 net carb, 30 g protein.

Looks good! I'd, of course, sprinkle in some hot red pepper flakes because there's nothing like a good fiery kick to get the nose to decongest a bit. Oh! I just saw you put red curry paste in it. Yup, that'll do the trick!

Oh good, it gets the approval of the resident Thai devotee!

It tastes sooooo good when you're sick.

Edited to add the sweetener - I forgot.

Oh yeah, I'm in there if it says "Thai"!

I saw that Thai Kitchens makes a "Tom Yum" paste which I'm sure is meant to go in Tom Yum soup, which is kind of like the typical coconut chicken soup only it tastes more tomato-y. Anyway, I did use it and I liked it very much!

One of these days I'm going to try to make my own curry pastes (I've only made a simple red curry paste so far). But there are so many sorts: Choo chee, Panang, green, red, yellow and the list goes on forever!

To anyone afraid of fish sauce, don't be! It doesn't taste like fish at all, more like a wonderful, lighter version of soy sauce but with lots of salt. It gives amazing depth of flavor to everything.

3 Reasons to love rotten fish:

Thai Food!
Caesar Salad!
Puttanesca Sauce!

Yay naturally-occurring glutamates!