Kinda Sorta Tom Ka Gai

My friend Mellen emailed me this recipe and I made it last night.  Sooo easy - hardly any chopping at all.  Her recipe is first and I included my changes below it.  It turned out really well and seems more like soup than a thick sauce. 

1 poached chicken breast, shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin
1.5 cups chicken broth
1 can (or a bit less) coconut milk (NOT the sweetened kind - made that mistake once!)
1 stalk lemon grass, tender, chopped fine
1 can Thai red curry (could use any kind)
1Tablespoon fish sauce
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Cilantro for garnish. Chopped peanuts if you like, too.

Sautée the onion and pepper, then dump everything in and stir it well and simmer for 1/2 hour or so. Serve over rice or rice noodles.

What I changed:

I put three chicken breasts in a huge skillet with a fair bit of olive oil and steamed it in there for 30 minutes.  I took them out and put them in a covered container. 

I used an entire red bell pepper.
I used maybe 2 cups of chicken broth.
I used half a small jar of Thai red curry paste.
I forgot to buy cilantro.
I remembered to buy peanuts but forgot to use them as a garnish.
I cut one breast into tiny pieces and threw it back in the soup mixture for the 30 minute simmer.  It was lost in all that liquid, I could easily have used two or three breasts.

Excellent soup over rice.  The only thing missing to make it actual Tom Ka Gai appears to be ginger.