Prime Minister Sundaravej's Tom Kha Salmon, served with a special steamed rice.

For the soup:

1 chicken stock cube

1 lb salmon cut into bite-size chunks

1 teaspoon coriander seed

4 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon Thai pepper powder

1 cup sliced fresh galangal

1/4 cup sliced fresh lemongrass

1/4 cup kaffir lime leaves, sliced

1 cup fresh mushroom (more if desired)

2 13oz cans coconut milk

7 tablespoons fish sauce

Method:

Bring 48 fluid ozs of water to the boil and add chicken stock cube. In a mortar and pestle pound the coriander seed, garlic and Thai pepper powder into a paste. Add the paste to the boiling stock. Add salmon, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and stir. Add mushrooms, followed by coconut milk. Season with fish sauce to taste, bring to a boil, then remove from heat.

Ladle into a serving bowl and season with lime juice to taste, then sprinkle with mild fresh chillies, such as jalapeno, red and yellow bell peppers, or any mild chilli peppers in season.

For the rice the Prime Minister suggested mixing 80 per uncooked jasmine rice with 20 per cent uncooked sticky rice, rinse, and steam together in a rice cooker.

Serve and enjoy.

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