The Soup That Brought Down A Government

THE SOUP THAT BROUGHT DOWN A GOVERNMENT

By measuring a country’s gross domestic product, we are supposedly able to determine how wealthy it is. A quick study into a nation’s cost of living will show you which country is the most expensive to live in. And as you may be aware, there are systems and equations out there that somehow measure a nations’s happiness. Bhutan is the world leader on that front by all accounts. That’s probably because they don’t have X Factor there yet.

If  national happiness can somehow be measured then surely we should start looking at how crazy a country is.  And not just checking out how many registered mentalers they have per capita, that should only count for ten percent of how mad a place is. Political scandals and incidents should make up the rest of the national insanity levels. And even when you compare it with our shower of eejits in charge over here, Thailand has to be the maddest country on Earth.

In the last week, ex prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s supporters have been protesting outside the current PM’s residence by pouring their own blood all over the entrance and the police who are blocking them.  This has to be one of the craziest shows of defiance against a governing power, made all the more surreal by a mysterious leprechaun who was leading the march and encouraged everyone to get shitfaced.

And of course, there was the curious incident of Samak Sundaravej whose short term as Thai Prime Minister ended 1.5 years ago when it was exposed that he was in fact also moonlighting as a celebrity TV chef. If you want to pin point the exact recipe that was the deal breaker for his political demise, it was his salmon soup. I have read about labour movements and economic meltdowns that have destroyed ruling establishments, but Thailand must be the only country in the world that has given us…….

THE SOUP THAT BROUGHT DOWN A GOVERNMENT – SAMAK’S SALMON

INGREDIENTS: – Any of the Asian ingredients here can be bought down in any Asian Market like the one on George’s St.

• 1 chicken stock cube, get the Kallo Brand from Liston’s on Camden Street.
• 1 lb salmon fillets cut into chunks
• 1 tsp coriander seed
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp Thai pepper powder
• 1 cup sliced fresh galangal
• 1/4 cup sliced fresh lemongrass
• 1/4 cup kaffir lime leaves, sliced
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 7 tbsp fish sauce

METHOD:

• Bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil and add chicken stock cube. Use a pestle and mortar to pound coriander seed, garlic and Thai pepper powder into a paste.
• Add paste to the boiling stock
• Add the salmon, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and stir. Add mushrooms, followed by coconut milk.
• Season with fish sauce, bring to the boil and then remove from heat
• Ladle into a bowl, season with lime juice and sprinkle with chilies.
• Serve with a mix of 80 per cent jasmine rice and 20 per cent sticky rice steamed together. If you don’t want to do that just boil some jasmine.