Hot and spicy shrimp soup is rich with flavours of shrimp,lemon grass,coriander and chillies and this is one of the spiciest dishes in Thai cuisine.

Ingredients

1)Shrimp with shells-1 pound
2)Chicken stock-5 cups
3)*Lemon grass-2 stalks
4)Minced coriander stems-1 tsp
5)Garlic-2 cloves (minced)
6)Lime zest-1/2 tsp
7)White pepper-1/2 tsp
8)Fish sauce-1 tsp
9)Lime juice-3 tsp
10)Oil-2 tsp
11)Kaffir lime leaves (chopped)-4
12)Chopped coriander leaves-2 tsp
13)Straw mushrooms-15 ounces, drained
14)Green chillies-3(Seeds removed and minced)
15)Red chillies-2(Seeds removed, shredded into 1 inch length

How to Prepare

1)Peel and wash shrimp,reserving shells,cut shrimp in half
  lengthwise.
2)Heat oil in a pan,and fry the shrimp until they turn pink.
3)Heat oil in a pan,and when it is hot add chicken stock to it.
4)Cut the top part of the lemon grass stalks add this to the
  chicken stock.
5)Slice remaining(bottom part of the lemon stalk)into thin slices
6)Mix sliced lemon grass,coriander,garlic,chillies,kaffir lime,
  lime zest and white pepper and grind it to a paste .
7)Add the above paste to the stock,mix it well and bring to a boil.
8)Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
9)**Strain the mixture through a sieve.Pour stock back to the pan
  and bring to a boil,add shrimp and mushroom to the stock and cook
  for 4 minutes or until the shrimps are pink and opaque.
10)Reduce the heat to simmer,season it with fish sauce and lime juice,
   stir it and remove it from flame.
11)Garnish it with coriander leaves.

*Lemon grass
Cymbopogon (lemon grass,lemongrass,citronella grass or fever grass)is a genus of about 55 species of grasses,native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World.It is a tall perennial grass.

**In general,a sieve separates wanted/desired elements from unwanted material using a tool such as a mesh,net or other filtration or distillation methods.