Hot and Sour Soup of Shredded Chicken and Lemongrass etc.

I spent the entire day in the kitchen. I started the day with another bowl of jok that looked just like yesterday's. I'd say I nailed it. Next I promised someone special my homemade Khao soi so as soon as breakfast was finished and I was properly caffeinated, I got to making the paste for that. The results were very good and once again very attractive.

It was not better than the previous batch, but who's complaining?

If the above picture isn't your idea of heaven, maybe you should be reading a sports, fashion, or financial blog. I love this pic and I love this dish. But this isn't what today's post is about so try and forget about it ok?

After lunch was over, it was time to think about second lunch. Second lunch is an under appreciated meal in this country. Actually it doesn't exist, and those for which it does might have something of a problem. In all seriousness I did used to be quite the second lunch fanatic but that was in a country where normal serving sizes aren't pushing the population towards premature deaths. Something to think about. Anyhow, the weather turned, my housemate was sent home from work on account of his sneezing too much, so a spicy soup was in order. The soup is question is dtom jiw gai or the title of this post.

The ingredients for this are very simple. Here's what goes into the stock. 

This is the roughage that gives your soup body and starts to release some wonderful smells after just a few minutes. Chicken is added, and when cooked the roughage is removed.  Everything you see below goes into a serving bowl and waits to be doused.

The stock is poured over a mix of lime juice, fish sauce etc,

given a quick stir and served.

This soup is sour, salty, and spicy. Great on a cold day and maybe ideal if you're feeling under the weather.

Because I am only cooking Thai food these days, I decided that it would be good to do a little baking on this shitty afternoon. I made a perfect batch of cookies using this tried and true recipe. 

Tomorrow, it's back to Thai food.