Creamy tom yum instant noodles with pork meatballs and seafood (Jeh O recreation)

Pound garlic and white pepper into a rough paste.

In a small food processor put fatty ground pork, the garlic-pepper paste, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar, plus an ice cube to keep the fat from melting. Process to a paste, scraping down. Squeezing by hand also works, with a rougher texture.

Form round meatballs and boil them in water for about two full minutes; floating does not mean they are cooked.

Cook the shrimp in the same water for extra shrimp flavour; the water becomes the pork broth for the soup.

In a pot, combine small-cut lemongrass, torn lime leaves, galangal pieces, processed Thai red and green chilies, fish sauce, lime juice, Thai chili paste and 2 tbsp chili paste oil, all from the start.

Add the pork stock and bring to an aggressive boil, breaking up the chili paste.

Taste and adjust the broth now; there is no later chance.

Add one Mama chili paste and seasoning packet; bring back to a boil.

Add the second packet for a stronger, spicier broth that holds up to the egg whites and evaporated milk.

Bring to the boil, add two packs of Big Pack Mama noodles, pour the egg whites directly on top of the noodles, and cook about a minute until the noodles loosen and are soft; turn off the heat, as they swell in residual heat.

Add about a third of a cup of evaporated milk last, since boiling it with the lime juice makes it curdle and separate.

Check seasoning (fish sauce, lime juice); add a little more evaporated milk if wanted.

Transfer to the serving bowl and arrange the toppings: pork meatballs, shrimp, crab, crispy pork belly, a generous helping of sawtooth coriander, lime slices and the egg yolks.

Break the yolks and mix them into the broth to eat.