Soupruary 5th: Thai Green Curry

A soup so easy it felt like cheating!

Location:
The penthouse, Northside, Cincinnati, Ohio

Attendees:
Brent, Britni, Charlie, Joshua, Laura, Matthew, Me

Menu:
Thai Green Curry Soup
Cilantro slaw of carrot, green apple, Asian pear and cucumber
Dessert pizza with Nutella and bananas

Entertainment:
More video production for Saturday's big American dance party
Corrie + Laura private dance party to the Christian Bale freakout dance remix

The Soup:
This soup has a lot of flavor for such minimal effort, and was done about 15 minutes after I started cooking. Throw in any vegetables you like or have on hand, and it’ll probably taste good. Laura was admittedly skeptical of this soup, but she ended up saying it was awesome and that she felt really healthy after eating it. It tasted capital F Fresh, and I got to use some more of that beautiful asparagus that’s making me happy at 99¢ a pound right now. I made enough to serve at least 8 people, so cut everything in half if you’re not having a dinner party.

The best thing I can say about this soup is that as soon as it was served, everyone ate in silence. Maybe they were just hungry, but I’d at least a fraction of the silence was due to the sheer soupiness of it all.

Inspired by 101cookbooks.com

2 T green curry paste
2 cans light coconut milk
1 t kosher salt
1 c onions, chopped
2 c vegetable broth
2 c water
14 oz. extra firm tofu, chopped into ½ inch cubes
2 carrots, sliced crosswise
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 lb green asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 c green peas
1 package medium width rice noodles
1 lime
½ c chopped basil
½ c chopped cilantro

Heat some water until it’s not quite boiling and pour it over your rice noodles to cover—these need to soak for about 15 minutes.

In your soup pot over medium heat, whisk the curry paste, salt and ¼ cup of coconut milk into a smooth mixture, then add the onions and sauté for about a minute. Add the rest of the coconut milk, the broth, and the water, and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the broth and add more curry paste or salt if you’re not happy with the flavor. Add the tofu, and let that simmer for about 2 minutes. Add all vegetables and simmer for another 2 minutes. Just before serving, squeeze the lime into the soup and add the basil and cilantro.

To serve, place a small pile of rice noodles in each bowl, and ladle the soup over the noodles. Garnish with a few bean sprouts.

***

Yesterday afternoon I found out some bloggers decided that February 5th was World Nutella Day. How could I pass that up? So, continuing on my cheating theme, I made the easiest dessert ever. Rolled some sugar cookie dough out on a pizza pan, baked it, and added Nutella and bananas.

Everyone approved. Some people approved twice.