This soup is  a panacea, a cure all, penicillin in the pot. This request is down the ‘hot and firery’ path. Since doing some research, there does seem to be the basic ingredients and then… well it s a mine field, personally i don’t eat meat so the pork or chicken is not going to go in my pot but you can easily incorporate these in yours, when you look at the fish its any and everything and i suppose is a matter of which you prefer. Prawns seem to be the more common so I have used this as the base of mine. You could try a firm fish such as monk fish or perhaps even crab claws or any combination. The amount of chili is also down to taste, some would prefer more heat others less, it is as always a question of taste so I would err on the side of caution when dealing with chili. Many of the other components in this soup are also variable such as the Galangal which is often substituted by whole ginger, so as usual I would say use what you can get hold of or that you already have in the store cupboard. This is definitely one to experiment with!

I used the following

1pint of fish stock using the prawn shells
1 stalk of fresh lemon grass (dried can be usedbut not as much flavour)
1 tablespoon of galangal (or whole ginger as second choice)
2 or 3 Fresh kaffir lime leaves finely shredded (lime zest if the leaves are not available)
Roasted chili paste Nam Prik Pao 1-2 tsp (depends on how hot your brand of paste is) or make up your own
3 or 4 slices of raw chili birds eye or something milder
1 tbsp Fish sauce (readily available at the supermarket)
1 fresh lime juiced
1/2 of a small onion slice finely
1/2 tsp of sugar
4 tbsp of fresh coriander leaves
2 to 4 oz of fresh prawns with shells
2 to 4 oz of fresh mushrooms usually they use straw but button are fine too
2 to 4 oz of spring onions sliced finely

To make the Nam Prik Pao chili paste

1/2 oz   small red chilies
3oz  unpeeled shallots, sliced up
2/3 oz  peeled garlic cloves (8 to 10 large cloves),
about 1-1/2 oz  vegetable oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Tamarind Liquid
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt

Dry roast the chilies,until soft, take out some seeds and end pieces

Add the shallots and garlic and continue to dry roast until the shallots are softened

whizz down a paste

add vegetable oil to pan and add paste and fry off to rich brown colour

when cool add the brown sugar, tamarind liquid, soy sauce and salt, judge the consistancy by eye when adding the tamarind and soy, trying not to let it get to liquid as I did on my first try!

place in a jar and should keep in the fridge for about a month.

To make the soup

Use the white bit of the lemon grass, cut in to 1 inch sections and pound it till very bruised.

Add to the bruised lemon grass to the fish sauce and galangal and stock, bring to the boil and simmer then for about 20 minutes

Strain the liquid and discard the fish shells, lemon grass and galangal

Add the Kaffir leaves, finely sliced onion, chilies and sugar Leave for five minutes and mix in the roasted chili paste

Add the mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes

Add the spring onions and lime juice a bit at a time tasting as you go

Add the coriander leaves, tasting to see if the seasoning suits you.

You may need more salt, lime or fish sauce or a bit of all, its up to you.

My last line on this soup is that maybe you might make it more of a meal by adding noodles, I think it good but again its up to you.