Thai Lemon grass, Chicken and Mushroom broth

1 lemon grass stalk
600 ml (1 UK pint) hot chicken stock
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced
1-2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (see below for home made recipe, nutritional values include using a shop bought paste)
1 shallot, finely chopped
100 g (4 oz) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons light muscovado ssugar
1 teaspoon Thai fish sauce
juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper To serve
1 salad onion, thinly sliced
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
handful of fresh coriander (Cilantro)

Flatten the lemon grass stalk with a rolling pin Or meat mallet and place in a pan with the stock, chicken, curry paste and shallot; bring to the boil. Add the mushrooms to the pan and simmer gently for 8-10 minutes,

Stir the sugar and fish sauce into the soup and Simmer for 3 minutes until the chicken IS cooked, Squeeze In the lemon Juice and season to taste,

Ladle the soup into warmed serving bowls and scatter over the salad onion, chilli and coriander, Serve with an extra wedge of lemon, if liked,

MAKE YOUR OWN Ready-bought Thai curry pastes have a lot of oil to give them a longer shelf life, Here's a make your own low fat version, Put 1 small, roughly chopped red onion, 4 garlic cloves, a 5 cm (2 inch) piece peeled and roughly chopped fresh root ginger or galangal, 6 red Thai chillies (remove seeds for a milder flavour) and 1 lemon grass stalk (tough outer leaves removed and inner stalk roughly chopped) Into a food processor and process to a coarse paste, Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds and the juice and finely grated rind of 1 lime and purée until smooth.
Keep in a screw topped jar In the fridge for up to 2 weeks,


Number of Servings: 2

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user WAHZOE.