Soup always feels like a fall or winter sort of meal. It warms the whole house as it stews on the stovetop. As an Edmontonian the spring time isn’t always filled with sunshine and flowers. It’s mostly cool with a usual chance of a snowstorm. So as May was nearing I felt it was important to get a hot soup on the menu.
Soups are amazing because you can create different kinds just by adding whats in the fridge. Jeremie and I had a mishap earlier in the week with some vegetarian enchiladas. The recipe called for squash, sweet potato and other ingredients but as we took our first bite we were troubled to find it was made from inferno chili powder. It was too hot for us. I like to think I can handle some heat but I couldn’t manage to finish the enchiladas. Good news was I have a friend who came by and devoured them for me. He is a spice machine. Long story short… I had squash and sweet potato left over in the fridge. I thought the flavours would pair well with a thai palette. Mostly because I love Thai food.
This recipe is super easy to make and doesn’t take too long. Thats what I love about soup, they are complex with tons of favour but are so simple to make.
Coconut Rice:
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 cup of water
1 cup of Jasmine Rice
Soup:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 inch of ginger, grated
2 carrots, diced
1 cup butternut squash, cubed
1 cup sweet potato, cubed
3 1/2 cups of chicken or veggie stock
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup cilantro
1 tsp basil (dried) or 1/4 cup fresh basil
Garnish with peanuts, avocado, and cilantro
Instructions:
- Wash rice! washing the rice is an important step that should never be skipped. It removes the starchy-ness of the rice and cooks and tastes better. Add coconut milk, water and rice to a medium saucepan, set stove top to medium high heat, cover and allow to come to a boil. Once the rice has boiled I usually like to turn down the temperature as to not burn the bottom or overflow the pot. You can leave this bubbling away for about 20 minutes.
- In a large soup pot add coconut oil and allow it to melt. Add onions, garlic, ginger and carrots to the oil and allow to soften. Try not to burn the garlic.
- Add the sweet potatoes, squash and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a boil. reduce heat and allow to simmer until tender. about 15 mins
- I have a handheld immersion blender so I used that to blend the soup but if you don’t have one of those you can use a blender or food processor. Blend until soup is smooth.
- Add coconut milk, peanut butter, curry paste, fish sauce, and lime juice to soup and blend together. Let this simmer for another 5 minutes. Add cilantro and basil and stir.
- Laddle the soup into bowls, scoop a bit of rice on top, add a few slices of avacado, and garnish with a few crushed peanuts and fresh cilantro.
