Lemongrass-coconut soup

Name: Lemongrass-coconut soup
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 lemongrass stems, trimmed, bashed and sliced into 5cm lengths; 2 tbsp lime juice; 3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced; 400 g tin of Chinese straw mushrooms, drained and halved, or 100 g fresh mushrooms, trimmed and quartered or thinly sliced; large piece of galangal, thinly sliced; 400 ml chicken stock; very finely sliced red chilli, to pass round separately; 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce; 1 chicken breast, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces; large piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced; large handful of fresh coriander; 400 ml can unsweetened coconut milk; 12 kaffir lime leaves

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Table in the Tarn

By Orlando Murrin

Published 2008

About

Although most Raynaudes dishes are firmly rooted in the cooking of south-west France, we follow the example of French friends and neighbours in making culinary forays into domtom (départements et territoires outre mer - French colonies, ex-colonies and dependencies).

Ingredients

large piece of galangal, thinly sliced
large piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
12

Europe
France
Starter
Gluten-free
Soup
Mediterranean

Method

Last year an enterprising Vietnamese woman opened a food shop in Albi, selling fresh Asian ingredients - and this simple but fragrant soup is, for us, the result. Roti - Asian flatbread - is the ideal accompaniment, and if you keep a clear head can be cooked at the same time as you are finishing the soup.

Up to an hour or two in advance, simmer first 6 ingredients, covered, for 10-15 mi