Thai-style chicken and tofu soup

A good Thai soup combines the 4S - sweet, salty, spicy and sour. This version balances out those flavours nicely. Spice-wise, it's on the mild side but I added hot sauce before serving. The ingredients below can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes. This recipe makes a little over 12 cups and could serve 6 people as a main dish.

 Bake 12 small chicken thighs in oven, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Alternatively, shred the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Cut one package of firm tofu into 1-inch cubes, pat dry, then sautee in a small amount of oil until just starting to brown. Set aside chicken and tofu.

Pour 12 cups of chicken stock into a large pot. I used a combination of low-salt homemade and commercial stock. You can also replace some of the stock with water. Add two thumb-sized pieces of peeled grated ginger, 1 T chopped garlic, 1 bunch finely chopped green onion, 3 diced red chilis, 3 T fish sauce, 2T brown sugar, 2 stalks bruised lemongrass, and 2 large handful of fresh lime leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add 1 can of coconut milk and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Add 2 cans of bamboo shoots and 1 cup of carrots sliced on the diagonal. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until carrots are tender-crisp.

Tip: You will need to remove the lime leaves and lemongrass before serving. To make this process easier, you can tie them up in cheesecloth and dunk them into the soup. 

Prepare 2 small packages of rice noodles according to package directions. Drain and add to soup, along with chicken and tofu. Alternatively, you can add the noodles directly to the soup and simmer but the soup will be starchier.

Served with chopped cilantro and sambal oelek or any other hot sauce for extra spice.