Ingredients
1.5 L chicken stock
3-4 stalks lemongrass
½ tsp salt
½ tsp palm sugar
8 slices galangal
8 kaffir lime leaves
6 eschalots, peeled and thinly sliced
300g skinless chicken thigh fillets
6 Tbsp lime juice
6 Tbsp fish sauce
2-4 hot chillies finely chopped plus extra for serving
½ cup coriander, chopped
Serves 4-6.
Method
Bring stock to the boil. Trim and bash 2 lemongrass stalks and add to stock with salt, sugar, 4 slices galangal, 3 torn lime leaves and 3 eschalots.
Simmer 10 mins then add chicken.
Once soup returns to the boil, remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove chicken and slice into a bowl with lime juice, fish sauce and chillies. Mix well.
Strain soup, discard solids and bring back to the boil. Remove from heat.
Trim finely chopped 1-2 lemongrass stalks and add to soup with chicken mixture, remaining eschalots and galangal and thinly sliced lime leaves.
Stir and taste – add more lime juice or fish sauce if needed.
Serve with chopped coriander and extra chillies if you like it hot.
Serves 4-6.
Chook's Note: this is one of the most delicious fragrant soups I have made for some time. Took me back to a lunch in Bankok last year.
I used a homemade chicken stock but a low-salt store-bought one would work just as well.
The recipe called for palm sugar but I didn't have any so used brown sugar. And I used ginger in place of galangal as I didn't have any - galangal is hard to find. The galangal has a gentler taste but ginger worked fine. As for how much 8 slices may be, I figured about 1 Tbsp chopped. This is a soup you can play with except for the lime and lemongrass and chilli - oh and fish sauce. It's all about the hot and sour balance.
The recipe called for palm sugar but I didn't have any so used brown sugar. And I used ginger in place of galangal as I didn't have any - galangal is hard to find. The galangal has a gentler taste but ginger worked fine. As for how much 8 slices may be, I figured about 1 Tbsp chopped. This is a soup you can play with except for the lime and lemongrass and chilli - oh and fish sauce. It's all about the hot and sour balance.
Fish sauce. It's worth getting a good one - I use a Thai brand. I start with 4 Tbsp and add more at the end if it needs it.
Tip on Kaffir lime leaves. Buy them when you see them and either freeze whole what you don't use immediately or dry and blitz then freeze. The freeze power is delicious sprinkled into many dishes or soup.
