Thursday, November 11, 2010

Week 45: Thai Curry Soup

This was a bit of a mix-and-match. Earlier this year I'd tried a delicious Thai Curry Soup which I wanted to try to replicate, however none of my cookbooks had a recipe that sounded exactly right, so I used three different ones for inspiration.

The Recipe
1 litre salted water
2-3 chicken drumsticks
1 bell pepper in thin strips
1 onion in thin rings
1 clove garlic, chopped
400ml coconut milk
5 carrots in thin sticks
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2-3 handfuls of soup-appropriate pasta
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp ginger
Fresh basil (optional)
Tomato sauce (haven't quite figured out how much yet)

In a large pot, bring the water to boil and add the chicken drumsticks and 2 of the carrots cut into large pieces. Reduce to a simmer and boil for 1 hour. Remove the drumsticks and carrots from the stock, discard the carrots, skin and bones and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Pour the stock into a measuring cup. If you have less than a litre (and you will, as some will have evaporated), add extra water/chicken stock (depending on how chicken-y you want it - I added chicken stock).

Return the pot to the stove and turn the heat down low. Add curry paste, onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the carrots and the bell pepper and stir for a few minutes more. Return the chicken meat and stock to the pot and add the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Add pasta and tomatoes and leave to simmer for another 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil on top and serve.

The Verdict
Yummy! The curry gave it a pleasant 'bite' without making it too hot. It wasn't quite as I wanted it to be though, as I remembered the taste as being more "tomato-y", so for the next portion, I added some tomato sauce. Unfortunately I either added too much or I should have used tomato paste or canned tomatoes instead, because it ended up tasting much too ketchup-y - which was definitely not what I was going for.

I still have half left though (the recipe above gives 4 generous portions at least), so I may try adding some more chicken stock and coconut milk to the rest, and see if that evens it out a bit.

I also felt it lacked something else to make it properly Thai-like, but have no clue whether that 'something' was ginger, lemon-grass... or just some extra salt to bring out the flavours already there. But for a first try, I don't think the soup turned out too badly :)

No comments:

Post a Comment