Coconut-Curry Chicken Soup

After my little sis (curry-hater) made a comment about the curry overload on the blog lately, I decided to take a curry break. After all, she is one of the few who follow this blog, so I must cater to my readers. Then I found this recipe, and the amazing reviews were screaming at me, so I just had to give it a try. On Wednesday, Kevin was home at lunchtime, and I decided, on a whim, to whip it up and see how it turned out. Well, this is a terrific recipe. I see what all the hype was about. First of all, it has a terrific base. It's like a really thick, flavorful chicken soup, with a different texture in every bite. You have the al dente noodles, the tender chicken, the crispy bite of the snap peas, and the leafy greens, all coming together in a really nice, hearty, hot pot of deliciousness. In fact, I wouldn't even call it a soup. It's more like a brothy hot pot. It is actually tough to eat this with just a spoon, because of the long noodles. Anyway, Kevin found this to be only okay. Basically, he loved the flavors, but didn't love the components. He'd rather have a chicken and rice soup, with your standard soup veggies, but with the awesome broth of this recipe. Okay. Maybe next time. I'm glad I made this one. It is a really cool recipe, and it looked really pretty. Of course, I made some minor modifications, so as not to have to buy ridiculous amounts of ingredients, but I pretty much stuck to the book. We liked it. I'll tweak it and try it again in a few weeks!





Try this. It's a great variation from your standard chicken noodle.


Coconut-Curry Chicken Soup


Chicken soup flavored with coconut and curry make this Thai a reader favorite. Snow peas, spinach, and chicken breast give the soup flavor, texture, and a wealth of nutrients.


Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 2 cups soup and 1 lime wedge)


4 cups water
3 cups fresh spinach leaves (I used frozen, because I had it, and wanted to get rid of it.)
1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
1 (5 3/4-ounce) package pad thai noodles (wide rice stick noodles)(I just used plain linguine)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1 pound)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce (I omitted this. I just can't bring myself to use it.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (omitted)
4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
7 lime wedges (omitted)

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.

2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and the next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; saut� 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.


CALORIES 315 (22% from fat); FAT 7.8g (sat 3.7g,mono 2.2g,poly 1.3g); IRON 3.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 62mg; CALCIUM 78mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30.9g; SODIUM 841mg; PROTEIN 29.3g; FIBER 2.4g

Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2008