1    Chicken (4 to 5 pounds)

           Salt
      2 qt Water

      3    Stalks fresh lemon grass

      8 sl Fresh galangal (or fresh

           -ginger)
      6    Garlic cloves, smashed

      6    Fresh Thai "bird" chiles *

      8    Shallots, sliced

      6    Fresh kaffir lime leaves

           -(optional)
    1/4 c  Thai fish sauce (nam pla)

    1/2 ts Sugar

    1/4 c  Fresh lime juice

    1/2 c  Tightly packed fresh

           -coriander leaves
    1/4 c  Fresh Thai basil leaves,

           -cut into thin strips
      1 ts Black pepper

  * (or 4 Serranos), cut into coarse strips, seeds and all.
  Salt the chicken inside and out and let stand for 30 minutes to an
  hour.
  In a pot the chicken will fit in snugly, bring water to a boil.  Add
  the chicken and when the water returns to a boil, skim the foam. Cut
  off the bottom 1/3 of the lemon grass stalk, discarding the rest. Cut
  the bottom on the bias into oval slices and add to the pot along with
  the galangal, garlic, chiles, shallots and kaffir lime leaves (if you
  can find them).
  Turn the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot, and simmer for
  30 minutes.  Then add the fish sauce, sugar and up to 2 teaspoons of

  salt (or to taste).  Simmer until the skin near the wing starts to
  split, about 30 more minutes, then remove the chicken to a large,
  round serving bowl leaving the stock in the pot.  Cover the chicken
  to keep warm.
  Add the lime juice to the broth as well as the coriander and basil
  leaves. Pour the broth over the chicken, sprinkle with the black
  pepper and serve.
  The chicken should pull off the bone easily; it's best eaten from
  bowls with some of the broth and herbs poured over.
  Bruce Cost, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/14/88.
  Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; November 4 1992.