Chicken Thai Soup !

The time for warmth in my meals to help take the approaching winters chill from my bones has arrived. I love stews, pies and all things involving a creamy, cheesy sauce covering a large robust fillet of fish accompanied by some creamy mash to help with the soaking process of the sauce and the fishes juices.
Today Soup was on the menu for that bit of warmth and was made in Kev's Souper kitchen ! ha ha !
I love the creamy comforting and indulgent coconut milk which goes into making this lovely Chicken Thai inspired soup. Add the heat from a Birdseye chili or two (if you are feeling brave !!) and you have a bowl of something special.
I spent a whole year working at a School in Wallsend and used to make this soup there and the kids loved it which surprised me, mind you I had to change the name of it to Chicken Dipper Thai soup ! ha ha !
I have not made this soup in many restaurant kitchens though, in fact the nearest recently I have come to making a version of this was with Billy (he of Cowbe award fame) the witch doctor chef at the Tree house. Billy is worthy of a blog post in himself but no one would believe it ! Anyway he showed me how to knock together a Thai and Lentil soup one day using mainly Chilli's, Lemongrass, lemon juice and Kaffier lime leaves with a generous pouring of Coconut milk to enrich it. It was simple to put together but had a lovely fragrant and warming richness to it .

So first I sweated off half a finely diced onion, 1 small sliced Birdseye chills and one clove of garlic in some olive oil. Next I add half a stalk of finely sliced lemongrass stalk with the outer leaf removed. Next add one Chicken breast which has been finely diced and sweated until its nicely coloured. Now add a good dollop of Thai paste. I have said it before their are some really good spicy pastes on the market and they save time so I brought one from Asda and jolly good it was to ! I mixed it in well with the other ingredients of the pan for about 2 minutes then poured in one large tin of coconut milk. Stir it well then let simmer for about 20 minutes. OK you need to finish the soup off now so I added some sliced spring onions, a good handful of bean sprouts, some ripped fresh coriander and finally a handful of cooked fine noodles. Mix it all together and serve in a bowl with some toasted cashew nuts for another little texture.

Enjoy...!