Tom Khing Kai - gingery chicken soup

ingredients:

2 cups of chicken cut into bite sized pieces 
3-4 cups of chicken stock 

2 stalks of lemon grass, bruised (this isn't eaten, but is an essential 
flavorant) 

2 "kaffir" lime leaves (use lime zest if you can't get it) 
2 phak chi (coriander/cilantro plants, including roots), chopped. 
1 tablespoon prik ki nu (green birdseye chilis) thinly sliced. 
1 tablespoon prik haeng (dried red chilis), crushed 
the juice of 3 or 4 limes 
2 or 3 tablespoons of sliced bamboo shoots or coconut shoots 
2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce. 
2 tablespoon hom daeng (shallots), thinly sliced 
1 tablespoon kratiem (garlic), minced 
1 tablespoon khing (fresh ginger), minced 
1 tablespoon kha (fresh galangal), minced 
prik Thai (freshly ground black pepper), to taste [optional] 

Heat a wok dry, and warm the dried chilis, then crumble them. Add a 
little oil to the wok, and sautee the chilis, ginger, galangal, shallots 
and garlic, until aromatic. 

In a medium sauce pan, bring the stock to a boil, add the sauteed 
ingredients, and the fish sauce and lime juice, and taste for balance, 
then add the remaining ingerdients, and bring back to the boil before 
adding the chicken. After about 1 minute taste for the balance of spices 
again, and then serve when the chicken is just cooked.