Recipe: After Champagne Coco-Chicken and Mushroom Soup

This is the restorative Lunch I am Planning on eating today:


After Champagne Coco-Chicken and Mushroom Soup
(Thai)
Sour, sharp, piquant, and a sensational appetite whetter. Watch out for a sweat breaking out on the back of your head! Serve hot to 4 people as a first course.

1 boneless, skinless, whole chicken breast, sliced on diagonal as thin as possible
3 stalks fresh lemon grass, stripped of outer leaves, and cutting away the root end and 2/3 of the top stalk, then sliced sharply on the diagonal into 1/4-inch pieces
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup fresh ginger root, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
4 thin strips of lime zest
1 cup light coconut milk
2 cups fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved into 1 Tablespoon water
4 Tablespoons nam pla or other fish sauce
4 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
Garnish: 12 fresh basil leaves, julienned, and 2 jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced into circles

Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan and stir in the lemon grass, ginger, and lime zest. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil, stirring steadily. Reduce heat and simmer until richly flavored, about 5 minutes. Strain the soup into another saucepan (or just strain out the flavorings). Stir in the chicken and mushrooms and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and bring to a boil to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and stir in the nam pla, lime juice, basil, and chili peppers. Correct the seasoning with more nam pla or lime, as you like. Ladle soup into 4 bowls as a first course.