Tom Kha Kai

Recipe source:
a combination of the following:
-- my little green cookbook from the cookery school in Thailand
-- http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/tomyumkung.htm

Ingredients:
--1 chicken breast, boneless, sliced thin
--Galangal, 5 thin slices
-- coconut milk, 1/4 cup
-- lemongrass, one stem, sliced into rings
-- 4 birds eye chilies
-- lime juice, 1 tablespoon
-- Kaffir lime leaves, 3
-- shiitake mushrooms, 5 thickly sliced
-- fish sauce, 2 tablespoons
-- coriander leaves, approximately 20 chopped coarsely
-- low-salt chicken stock, about 3 cups
-- 1 tablespoon lime juice
-- other vegetables, chopped into medium pieces (eggplant, tomato, etc.)

Procedure:
-- Roughly pound the aromatics (chilies, lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal) with mortar and pestle and add to the stock and simmer for a couple of minutes.
-- Season with the fish sauce and coconut milk
-- add the firm vegetables and simmer until softened
-- add the chicken and the soft vegetables and simmer for just a minute or 2 until cooked
-- remove from heat and add the lime juice and coriander leaves

Outcome:
-- delicious, but not enough lemongrass flavor.
-- very spicy! Perhaps we shouldn't pound chilies so much beforehand
-- perhaps try straining after simmering the aromatics next time to remove all the little chunky bits