Gaeng Om Gai

Ingredients

• 800 g bone-in chicken thighs, chopped through the bone into 4 cm pieces
• 8 dried long red chillies, seeds shaken out
• 2 stalks lemongrass, tough outer layers removed
• 1 thumb galangal, peeled and sliced
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp pla ra (fermented fish sauce), strained, or 2 tbsp extra fish sauce
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp uncooked glutinous rice
• 150 g yardlong beans, cut into 4 cm lengths
• 6 Thai apple aubergines, quartered
• 100 g oyster or straw mushrooms, torn
• 1 very large bunch dill, roughly chopped
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1.2 litres water

Before you cook

• Soak the dried chillies in warm water for 15 minutes until they soften, then drain and squeeze them out.
• Slice the tender lower third of each lemongrass stalk into thin rounds.
• Pound the chillies, lemongrass, galangal, shallots, garlic and salt in a mortar to a fine paste, giving it a good ten minutes.
• Chop the chicken through the bone into pieces small enough to pick up with your fingers.
• Cut the beans, quarter the aubergines and tear the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces.
• Chop the dill coarsely, stems and all.

Steps

1. Toast the glutinous rice in a dry pan over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until it is dark gold and smells like popcorn.
2. Pound the toasted rice to a coarse powder in a mortar and set it aside.
3. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.
4. Stir the pounded chilli paste into the boiling water until it dissolves completely.
5. Add the chicken and let the pot come back up to a simmer.
6. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, skimming the grey foam off the surface as it rises.
7. Season with the fish sauce and the strained pla ra, then taste: the broth should be salty, savoury and clean, with the chilli heat building behind it.
8. Add the aubergines and simmer for 5 minutes until they lose their raw crunch.
9. Add the yardlong beans and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes more.
10. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the toasted rice powder to give the broth a little body.
11. Take the pot off the heat and stir through the chopped dill and the spring onion.
12. Cover the pot and let it stand for 2 minutes so the dill wilts without going drab.
13. Ladle into bowls and eat with hot sticky rice.