Easy Chicken, Ginger and Lemongrass Soup

With the cooler weather upon us we have been looking for warming and nourishing foods that are quick and easy to make and leave you with that warmed through feeling.
This is a recipe I have adapted as the original was heavy on the chicken and light on spice and the filling factor.  This version makes one chicken breast feed 4 people which makes it much more frugal and we never feel like we are missing out as I cut the chicken into thin strips then into sections so they fit on a spoon.

I always have home made chicken stock frozen in 500ml lots in the freezer and this is a great way to use some of them up as I tend to make about 8 litres of stock at a time.

Easy Chicken, Ginger and Lemongrass Soup

2.5 L Chicken Stock
10 cm Thumb of Ginger
3 Lemon Grass Stalks
5 Coriander Roots (See Note)
6 Cloves of Garlic
6 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1/2 Long Red Chilli (optional)
2 Tsp Fish Sauce
1 Lg Chicken breast
2 or 3 bunches of Bok Choy
Dried Egg Noodles of your choice for 4 serves
Coriander leaves, extra chilli and bean sprouts to serve

Place the stock in a large pot and add the peeled and sliced ginger, the lemon grass stalks that have been bruised and cut length ways, the coriander roots, crushed garlic, the kaffir lime leaves, and the half red chilli thinly sliced.  Simmer for 30 minutes then add the fish sauce and chicken that has been thinly sliced into bite sized pieces.  Simmer for a further 10 minutes then pick out the lemon grass stalks, coriander roots and kaffir lime leaves (we leave the ginger in but you could remove this too if you do not like eating it).  Add the dried noodles (I have not specified a specific type as I tend to change it up every time I make it) and cook as directed on the packet adding the bok choy for the last 2 mins of the cooking time.
Serve into bowls and garnish with fresh coriander leaves, more chilli if you like or bean sprouts.

Note:  Using Coriander root.  If you have never used coriander root here is a basic guide on line.  My method was learnt in a Thai cooking class and differs lightly.  I leave about 5 cm of stalk  attached to the root and when I say root I mean the whole big long hairy white bit so you need to look for the clean rooted bunches.  Basically you want to lightly scrape away the outer skin and remove any gritty bits.  If you can't get it just use the thick stalks from the bottom of the bunch as they will still give you lots of flavour.