2 boned and skinned chicken breasts
2 x 15oz/425g tins coconut milk
½ pint/275ml chicken stock
12 small red chillies
4 spring onions
4 stalks lemon grass, or grated rind of ½ lemon
4 lime leaves
2 tablespoons thai fish sauce (nam pla)
juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoons soy sauce
1 bunch coriander

METHOD

Pour the stock and the coconut milk into a large pan. Slice the spring onion. Cit off the base of each stalk of lemon grass, peel away the tough outer layers and discard. Finely chop the bottom 4-/100mm of each stalk and discard the rest. Add the lemon grass or grated lemon peel to the pan with the lime juice, the grated ginger, the nam pla, the soy sauce, the whole chillies, the spring onions and the lime leaves. Heat the soup to just below boiling point. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-/25mm strips, add to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Reserve 4 small sprigs of coriander, chop the remainder and add to the pan. Pour the soup into bowls, garnish with the coriander sprigs and serve. DO NOT eat the chillies or the lime leaves.
Note: this soup is quite sweet due to the coconut milk. Add more spices if you like a little more kick in your soup.

PROGRAMMES

PROGRAMME ARCHIVE

EXTRAS