CHICKEN HOT & SOUR SOUP

SERVES 6 PREP 30 MINS COOK 8 ½ HOURS

1.6kg whole chicken 2 carrots, coarsely chopped 2 stalks celery, trimmed, coarsely chopped 1 onion, coarsely chopped 10 cups water 6 kaffir lime leaves, crushed 2 x 10cm sticks lemongrass, bruised 6cm piece ginger, grated 2 long red chillies, sliced thinly, plus extra to serve ½ cup lime juice ½ cup fish sauce 3 tsp brown sugar 425g can straw mushrooms, drained, rinsed 2 baby buk choy, trimmed, coarsely chopped 200g rice vermicelli noodles ½ cup firmly packed coriander leaves, plus extra to serve

1 Remove and discard fat and skin from chicken. Place chicken, carrot, celery, onion and water in a 4.5-litre (18-cup) slow cooker. Cook, covered, on low 8 hours.

2 Carefully remove chicken from cooker and shred meat coarsely using two forks. Discard bones. Strain cooking liquid through a muslin-lined sieve, clean chux orr linen tea towel. Discard solids.

3 Return strained liquid to cooker with lime leaves, lemongrass, ginger, chilli, juice, fish sauce, sugar, mushrooms and chicken. Cook, covered, on high 30 mins. 4 Stir in buk choy. 5 Meanwhile, place noodles in a medium heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and stand 10 mins or until softened. Drain. Divide noodles among serving bowls. Ladle hot soup over noodles. Serve sprinkled with coriander and chilli.