Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

I've been on a little bit of a Thai kick lately. I'm starting to feel like I may as well stock my pantry with cans of coconut milk, red curry paste, and curry powder. It feels like a good time of year for these curries and soups. They can be warm and comforting for Fall, but still reminiscent of summer with the coconut-y goodness and the bright, fresh lime flavors. 

My recipe this week involves a lot of mushrooms, which is another great Fall favorite in soups. And bonus! It's a quick one, especially if you buy the mushrooms pre-sliced. Next week's recipe will also be Thai but no mushrooms involved, for those of you who fear them. :) It's been so nice to get back to cooking after having been laid up for a while and eating mostly freezer foods. Though I will say, it was nice to have a break from my two year old crying at my feet while I prep dinner...

Enjoy!

Thai Coconut Soup

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 T vegetable oil
• 2 T peeled, grated ginger (or 1tsp ginger powder)
• 6 tsp Thai red curry paste
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 6 c chicken broth
• 3 T fish sauce or soy sauce
• 1 T light brown sugar
• 2 (14oz) cans coconut milk (the kind you find in the Asian foods aisle. Not the coconut milk in the dairy section, and not canned coconut cream...that will get you SUPER sweet results that we're not looking for here)
• 1 lb chicken breast, sliced in 1 inch strips (or pre-cooked shredded chicken you have on hand)
• 1 lb white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin
• 3-4 T fresh lime juice (I usually more lime rather than less)
• 1/2 c whole cilantro leaves

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium. While oil heats, stir in ginger and curry paste. Mix around a bit and when it starts to sizzle, cook for about 1 minute. Putting the ginger and curry paste in before the oil is completely hot avoids a lot of spattering and spitting of oil and curry paste. If using red pepper flakes, add them now and stir for 15 seconds. 
2. Add 1/2 c broth and stir until the curry paste is dissolved. Then stir in the rest of the broth, fish or soy sauce, and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 min, partially covered. 
3. Stir in the coconut milk, chicken, and mushrooms. Cook on a simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. If you use pre-cooked chicken, you will still allow a simmer for 5 minutes to give mushrooms time to become tender. 
4. Remove the pot from heat. Stir in lime juice to taste, and season with salt. Garnish bowls with cilantro. 

Thai Red Curry

Ok, the past couple of months have been crazy busy, to say the least. It's not like I haven't had time to cook, but I've been doing a lot of "fly by the seat of my pants" dinners just to get something on the table after a long day. Now it feels like things have settled down for a bit, so I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things.

I'm going to tell you all the MOST frustrating thing to me from this past month. I checked out a brand new cookbook from the library written by a well-known chef. I was excited. I read this book cover-to-cover, and I dog-eared (yes, dog-eared!) over twenty different recipes I was excited to try. Now, I learned a long time ago that test driving cookbooks from the library before investing in buying them is the way to go. Because there are a lot of big stinker cookbooks out there. They look pretty and glossy and have a picture of someone we recognize from TV, and we trust it! We trust the recipes to work! I know these chefs are amazing and so skilled at what they do, and I also know that there must be some publisher employee changing ingredient amounts and directions, because the first recipe I made was one HUGE flop. Ok, I wrote that one off as a mistake I made. It was a dish I had no prior experience with and didn't know what I should expect texture and flavor-wise. 

So then I tried the roast chicken. I have done roast chicken using so many different methods, I could do it with my eyes closed. I've read about different techniques and the whys of using certain ingredients and the hows of cooking it all to the perfect temperature without drying out the breast or undercooking the legs. Unfortunately for me, I ignored what I already know and followed the recipe in this book to the letter. I was trying to give it a fair chance! And there was flop number two, staring at me from the oven. Underdone, so I cooked it longer. Rubbery and pale skin, so I put it under the broiler to brown it at least a little. 

Long story not so short, I get SO irritated when I waste my time on recipes that don't work. I don't have time for that. You don't have time for that. And it annoys me that there are publishers, websites, and magazines out there that think we do have time for that, or we aren't smart enough to know better, or they just don't care. End rant. 

All of this has reminded me of why I started posting these recipes on a blog in the first place. I wanted a place to archive all the recipes I use that work. The ones that my husband or kids love and would want me to make again. And then I decided to share them for others out there that want to spend time making a recipe that turns out how it should and tastes good. I truly hope that the recipes I have posted have worked for you, if you've tried them. If you only knew the amount of dishes I have been excited to post about, and then didn't because I didn't think they turned out well. I promise to always try to keep it real. :) 

This week's recipe is one I have made more times than I can count. It's another good one from America's Test Kitchen. This Thai Red Curry is so coconut-y and citrus-y, sometimes I want to drink the sauce. ;) I make this one on nights when I don't have a lot of time. It's quick and tasty. Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 - 2 T red curry paste (commonly found in a small jar in the Asian foods aisle)
• 1 14oz. can coconut milk (also found in the Asian food aisle, not the coconut milk in the refrigerated dairy section)
• 2 T fish sauce or soy sauce
• 4 tsp light brown sugar
• 1 lb sirloin or flank steak OR chicken breast or thigh, thinly sliced (see note*)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and stemmed, thinly sliced into strips
• 1/2 lb sugar snap peas
• 1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1/2 c fresh basil, chopped
• 1-2 T fresh lime juice
• salt
• white or jasmine rice, cooked per package instructions

*Red meat protein: to get 1/4 in thin slices of meat easily, place uncooked meat in the freezer for 20-30 min. Remove from freezer and slice while meat is slightly hardened. Slightly freezing hardens the meat just enough to prevent it from sliding back and forth. The same can be done for chicken, though I find if you use a sharp knife, getting a thin slice on uncooked chicken is easier than red meat.

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 12 in skillet over medium heat. Add curry paste, stirring and cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute (it will spatter, so take care!). 
2. Add coconut milk, fish/soy sauce, and brown sugar. Whisk over a simmering heat until the sauce thickens a bit, about 5 minutes. 
3. Add your protein and simmer until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. 
4. Add broccoli and cook for 1 minute. Then add bell pepper and snap peas. Cook until all veggies are tender but still crisp, about 5 more minutes. 
5. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and lime juice to taste. Add salt to taste. 
6. Serve over rice. Be sure to ladle a generous amount of the curry sauce on top. It's the best part!!