Tom Kha Gai hits top spot in global chicken soup ratings

Picture courtesy of Mali Brand

A traditional Thai chicken soup, Tom Kha Gai, took top honours in the 10 Best Rated Chicken Soups in the World list, as revealed by the TasteAtlas global food mapping site this week. The coconut cream soup, infused with galangal, clinched the first spot with a stellar rating of 4.7 out of five stars, outshining 1,376 other entries.

Brimming with chicken and a medley of fresh herbs like galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, shallots, bird’s eye chillies, and mushrooms, Tom Kha Gai is a soup with a distinctive taste profile.

The sour tang of lime juice and the savoury depth of fish sauce characterise this comforting dish, which is further enhanced by tamarind juice and palm sugar. Tom Kha Gai is typically garnished with fried chillies and served with a side of steamed rice, reported Bangkok Post.

Tom Kha Gai is a national dish of Thailand that originated in the northern part of the country and was influenced by Laotian cuisine. However, the true origin of the dish remains unclear, and many Thais regard it as a traditional dish of the central region.

The second place was clinched by the Romanian ciorba radauteana, a sour soup made with chicken, onions, sweet red pepper, celery, carrots, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, and sour cream. Moldova’s zeama and Algeria’s chorba beida ranked third and fourth respectively.

The fifth place soup was another Romanian soup, supa (de pui) cu taietei, followed by Serbia’s bela corba, El Salvador’s sopa de gallina india, Peru’s inchicapi, Poland’s rosol z kury, and Georgia’s chikhirtma.

The ranking by TasteAtlas has brought international recognition to Tom Kha Gai, further enhancing Thailand’s reputation as a culinary hotspot with a rich and diverse food culture.

Tom Kha Gai won the top spot in the chicken soup ranking but also scored impressively in TasteAtlas’s overall ranking of all soups. The dish ranked ninth in the 100 Best Rated Soups in the World. The well-known Tom Yum soup came in at number 16.

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FoodThailand News

Neill Fronde

Neill is a journalist from the United States with 10+ years broadcasting experience and national news and magazine publications. He graduated with a degree in journalism and communications from the University of California and has been living in Thailand since 2014.

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