(At this point the meat will still have flavour and the boiled meat was a favourite with my little girls when they were toddlers).Ĥ. After an hour you can remove any large pieces of meat that may be falling from the breast and leg bones to use in another dish. Let the stock reduce with the lid off, occasionally removing any scum.ģ. Skim off any scum and reduce the heat to a good simmer. Cover with water about 2-3 litres and bring to a fast boil over a high heat.Ģ. Place in a large pot with all the ingredients except the salt. Cut up the chicken into manageable pieces with a cleaver. These rarely would be considered something one would write down as a recipe but I suggest some here which can be adapted to individual taste.ġ whole chicken, including skin (feet and head if you have)ġ medium red onion, chopped roughly or eight shallotsģ spring onions, trimmed and snapped between your handsĢ stalks of lemongrass, left whole but tied in a knot or snapped in two (optional)ġ piece of galangal or ginger, one inch long, cracked with the heel of your hand (optional)Ģ tablespoons of padek water or fish sauceġ. Then they throw in other items such as watercress, tomato or local leaves and herbs at the last moment and serve it in a communal bowl, rather as a refresher of the palette, and it becomes a soup. Laotians also often serve these extremely light stocks which consist of just water, salt, lemongrass, paa-dek, and maybe some galangal, simmered together with bones at most meals. If you want a really lemony stock, add lime leaves and squeeze a lime into it at the end. In the recipes below I have used meat and fish plus Southeast Asian herbs and vegetables to give then the appropriate perfume. However, since few of us can stay at home for a whole day to watch a stock pot these days you could make a quicker stock in advance and freeze it in bags.

The stock is used as a base to enhance other flavours and ingredients. They are MUCH LIGHTER than a Western stocks and this is one of the keys to Lao cooking. Other herbs and additives tend to be added later to suit a particular recipe when it is being made. These are the ‘vital’ first ingredients as the aromatics counter the ‘smell’ of the meat or fish as I was often told.

These stocks simmer uncovered for hours on end and simply consist of meat or fish bones, galangal or lemongrass (or both together) garlic and sometimes shallots. In Laos nothing is wasted in the kitchen and most people keep a stock pot simmering away in a corner somewhere.

Ant Egg Soup by Natacha Du Pont de Bie