Sluttishly Easy: Tom Yam Gai soup

I wasn't expecting to have to write soup recipes in August, but have you been outside? It's hardly bikini and Pimms weather, is it? Humph. So I'll stay in and be cosy and make soup. I love making soup though. It's one of my most favourite things. There's nothing that can't be cured with a bowl of chicken soup. And this Tom Yam Gai recipe is very tasty.

This was a take on Nigel Slater's recipe. Alex S and I are slowly working our way through his Real Food book making yummy noises at everything we try. But, due to him being off the telly and having a fully stocked fridge, and us not being off the telly at all, we had to make a few changes and alter the ingredients a bit. Either way, it's tasty and light but still filling. And you'll have some for lunch the next day, even after you've fed two hungry bloggers.

You'll need:

• 1 chicken breast (or the chicken you stripped of the carcass before you made chicken stock, remember?)
• 1 Litre of chicken stock. We mixed half ours with water as it was pretty strong.
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 2 coves of garlic, crushed up
• Lemongrass
• Red chilli - as much as you like. I think this depends on the chilli (Asda's are notoriously RUBBISH).
• Juice of one lime (this was actually in place of lime leaves, which I couldn't find, I've since found them in a Chinese supermarket).
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Three handfuls of spring greens. You can never have too many greens.
• 1 teaspoon sugar.
• Chopped coriander.

Make it!

If the chicken isn't cooked, bring to the boil in the stock. Just simmering is fine if you're using the chicken you've stripped from your carcass. Throw in your lemongrass, chilli, garlic and spring onions and continue to simmer. Then add the fish sauce and sugar and lime. Throw in the greens and coriander at the last minute - they don't need much cooking (soggy greens do not make good soup). Serve in huge bowls and make slurpy noises.