I really don’t know why it has taken me so long to add this classic to my recipe set. Along with Gaeng keo wan gai (green chicken curry), this was my introduction to good Thai cooking. And it also comes from Mogens Bay Esbensen. For the record, this dish taught me the lesson that you don’t necessarily eat everything served with Thai food — lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves remain indigestible even after chewing for 10 minutes.

Unusually, I have made few changes to the original, although I add more lemon grass during winter, when my home grown plants are a bit leaner than the store-bought variety. Mogen also leaves the heads on the prawns, but I’m not a great fan of prawn heads.

As usual, beware the chilli quantity — good chillis will literally take your breath away when you take the first sips of this broth.

If you don’t intend to eat all of this at one sitting, keep some prawns and coriander aside — if re-heated, prawns shrink and become hard, and coriander loses most of its flavour.