Aromatic Chicken & Rice Soup with Fried Garlic Oil

A steaming, aromatic bowl of soup brings my family together like nothing else. Regardless of the weather or season, we are a year-round soup-loving-and-eating family. And each week, as a labor of love, dad’s culinary passion takes the stage with our Sunday soup ritual. Among his repertoire of delicious and intricate soups, one stands out: his chicken and rice soup, fragrant with ginger, lemongrass and makrut lime leaves, and adorned with fried garlic oil. 

I’ve always admired my dad’s earnest approach to cooking, focusing on the foundation of what makes a dish good. And when it comes to this soup, the foundation is its rich, fragrant broth, that he likens to liquid gold (and after you try this soup, you’ll understand why). The bulk of the flavor comes from the melody of herbs and aromatics—lemongrass, ginger and makrut lime leaves—slowly simmering alongside chicken. 

While not found in traditional Thai cookbooks, this dish encapsulates the essence of Thai soups, ingredients and techniques, passed down from my grandmother to my dad, and now to me. In fact, I’ve always believed that straying away from fixed recipes and focusing on technique and quality ingredients may just be considered the “Thai way.” You see, much of the country’s history and cuisine is full of triumphs of change, adaptation and resilience that has made Thai cuisine the global superstar it is today. 

Food has always played a central role in bringing my Thai American family together. My grandparents opened their first Thai restaurant, Siam Gourmet, in 1986 in South Florida, making it the first of its kind in the region at a time when Thai cuisine was a novelty abroad. Like many Thai immigrants, my family relied on exchanges of information and cookbooks when they first moved to the states in order to replicate the flavors of home without easy access to familiar ingredients. In a sense, the passion for food and technique my grandparents instilled in our family over the decades is embodied in this soup.

Though I no longer live at home, the moments spent cooking Sunday soups with my dad are forever in my heart. Yet, I do find solace in the ability to prepare warm, nourishing dishes like this on the Sundays I’m not home, serving as a comforting reminder of my family and how proud I am of my culture.