Ingredients for stock

1.2 litre water

500-700 g chicken cut into pieces (with bones)

2 stalks of celery chopped

1 large carrot chopped

1 large onion chopped

4-5 cloves garlic chopped

½ a ginger chopped

6-8 whole peppercorns

2 bay leaves.

Other ingredients

150 g finely sliced mushrooms

2 small bok choy finely chopped (chop the white and green parts separately).

100 g baby corn finely chopped

1 large carrot, peeled, finely diced

50 g green beans finely diced

2 large tomatoes finely diced

150 g cleaned and peeled shrimp

50 g atta or whole-wheat noodles broken into 1 inch pieces

1½ tbsp freshly-ground black pepper or to taste

2-3 tbsp fish or light soya sauce or to taste

1½tbsp finely-chopped green chillies (optional)

1½ tbsp finely-chopped coriander

1½ tbsp finely-chopped mint leaves

6 eggs (optional)

100 g cleaned bean sprouts

2 chicken stock cubes ground to a powder (optional)

Salt and lime juice to taste.

Method to prepare the stock

Place all the ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil.

Remove the scum off the surface of the stock.

Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 35-40 minutes.

Cool, strain and discard vegetables, peppercorn and bay leaves. Retain chicken and stock.

De-bone the chicken and dice it into small pieces.

Method to prepare the soup

In a large pan, bring the stock to a rolling boil.

Add the carrots, bean, and white parts of bok choy, baby corn and stock cube powder. Mix well.

Lower the heat and let it simmer until the vegetables are ¾ cooked. Add mushrooms, tomatoes and noodles and cook for a minute.

Stir in fish or soya sauce, black pepper, half the coriander, mint and green chillies, shrimp and diced chicken. Bring back to a boil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the green of the bok choy. Mix well and season with salt if needed and cook for a couple of minutes.

Break an egg into each of the soup bowls, ladle the piping hot soup into the bowls and garnish each bowl with bean sprouts, the remaining mint leaves, coriander and chilli.

Squeeze some lime-juice on top. Serve immediately.

Serve it with soya or fish sauce and Thai sweet chilli sauce along with lime wedges on the side.

If the soup is too thick, add some hot water. The eggs will get cooked in the steaming soup.

Recipe courtesy Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta, Kewpie’s
Picture by Rashbehari Das