Green bamboo stew

Kaeng no mai

Quantity	Ingredient
3 stems	lemongrass, finely sliced
1-2	chillies, cut in half
2-3 tablespoons	sticky rice flour or rice flour or tapioca flour
2 cups	water
2 cans	yanang leaf extract, for green colouring
500g	boneless fish fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
or 500g	belly pork, cut into 3 x 2 cm slices
3 tablespoons	country fish paste water
1 tablespoon	fish sauce
500g	sliced bamboo shoot, cut into thin strips
100g	pumpkin, skinned and cut into small wedges
a few	golf-ball eggplant, cut into wedges
or	cigar-shaped eggplant, cut into chunks
1 small tin	young corn pieces
or 1/2-1 cup	baby corn, halved lengthwise
1 cup	fresh oyster mushrooms, sliced
3 cups	young pumpkin or choko leaves or any young green leafy vegetable, torn into pieces
4-5 whole stems	asian sweet basil
4	young green spring onions, chopped

To make sticky rice flour, soak glutinous rice in water overnight. After at least 6 hours strain it then spread it out on a cloth until the surface is dry. Grind in an electric grinder as finely as you can. Alternatively, you may use bought rice flour or tapioca flour.
In a mortar or a food processor attachment grind the lemongrass and chillies to a fine paste. Add the rice flour and mix. Leave aside. Add 2 cups of water to the extract of yanang leaves and bring this to a boil. Add the fish or pork, the country fish paste water, the fish sauce and the strips of bamboo shoot and simmer together for about half an hour. Then add the vegetables in the order they will take to cook, leaving the pumpkin leaves until last. Finally, add some of the stock to the flour mixture and stir until liquid and lump-free then add to the stew. Stir the pot and bring it back to the boil, allowing the stew to thicken.
Remove the pan from the heat, garnish with basil leaves and chopped spring onions and serve in a large bowl.