Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp (Tom Yum Goong)

• 3 or 4 stalks lemon grass
• 4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, very thinly sliced
• 5 ounces oyster mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
• 8 ounces jumbo shrimp
• 2 to 3 bird pepper chilies, stemmed, seeded and minced
• 2 to 3 teaspoons nam pla (fish sauce)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons (or more) lime juice
• 5 sprigs cilantro, washed, dried and chopped
• 4 whole kaffir lime leaves, for garnish

1. Trim the bottom of the lemon grass, and remove tough layers.
2. Using a food processor or Japanese or French mandoline, slice the bottom 3 or 4 inches of the stalk tissue-thin.
3. Bring the stock to a boil.
4. Add lemon grass and sliced lime leaves, and boil one minute.
5. Add the mushrooms, and simmer until mushrooms have softened, 2 or 3 minutes.
6. Add the shrimp, chilies and fish sauce, and cook until shrimp are just done.
7. (Do not overcook the shrimp.)
8. Stir in the lime juice, tasting as you add.
9. Serve, sprinkled with cilantro and the 4 whole lime leaves.

lemon grass, chicken stock, lime, mushrooms, jumbo shrimp, bird pepper chilies, fish sauce, lime juice, cilantro, lime

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1817 (may not work)