Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

It’s the weekend, and although we have a jammed packed weekend of carting my youngest son off to hockey games, and I had to work a little showing some lovely clients homes in the area, I did manage to sneak in a good 4 hours at home this Saturday afternoon.

Although I really should have been cleaning my house…I decided to rummage through the fridge instead and try to figure out a few meals worth of the remaining groceries to be used up.

It was actually rather productive. I like to rummage through my fridge just before a grocery shop and see how I can use up what is remaining. Andrew and I made up some energy bites with figs, cocoa, honey, coconut, oats and vanilla and some of the old fashioned no bake chocolate oat cookies (as Andrew felt the energy bites were a bit too healthy of a dessert for his liking). I also made up some black bean and sweet potato chili and best of all…..this lovely Thai Coconut Chicken Soup!

Here’s roughly what I did:

Ingredients:

– 3-4 green onions chopped

– red bell pepper chopped

– 1 carrot chopped

– Garlic, chopped fine (2-3 cloves)

– a thumb sized knob of ginger chopped fine

– 2 serrano peppers seeded and chopped fine (less if you don’t like it spicy – other chilis would work too)

– Some cilantro chopped (I used about a 1/2 cup leftover in the fridge)

– 2 small cans of organic coconut milk

– about 3 cups of chicken broth (I had some homemade from yesterday in the fridge)

– Leftover Chicken (I had some leftover shredded in the fridge from making broth yesterday from a whole chicken)

– 1 small jar of red thai curry paste 112g

– mushrooms sliced (I used about 4-5 large)

– Zest and juice of a lime or two

*Things I kind of wished I had in my fridge to add in (bean sprouts, lemongrass, more cilantro) – If you have them – I would add them!

In a large Heavy Bottomed Pot, add a little oil (I used a little coconut and sesame oil), throw in your green onions, red peppers, carrots, garlic, ginger, cilantro, hot peppers and mushrooms. Cook about a bit until fragrant and then add the jar of curry paste. To this I added some of the coconut milk and let it simmer a little. While that was simmering I zested a lime into the mix.

Then add in the rest of the coconut milk and your chicken broth. Bring to a boil, add a bit of fish sauce to taste (About a Tbsp or so). Reduce the heat, throw in your leftover chicken, stir it up and give it a taste…I added a bit of lime juice at this point.

Ladle it up in bowls with some vermicilli rice noodles if you like…or just on it’s own. I garnished with some fresh basil and a little extra lime.

Easy – quick and healthy! Enjoy!