Coconut curry chicken noodle soup
I can hardly type these words without cringing and my back muscles spasming: we are expecting another blizzard this weekend. Oh, and, it's a balmy 3 degrees right now and feels like -16 with the windchill. It's no wonder that I had to make another soup.
This is a hearty yet healthy Thai-style soup that brings just the right amount of heat. If you'd like things less spicy, tone down the red curry paste and use regular curry powder instead of Hot Madras.
Many recipes out there call for cooked, shredded chicken, which you should view as a perfect opportunity to use up leftover chicken taking up room in your fridge! Especially if you made a chicken dish that didn't go over well or came out dry - after simmering in this soup, it will be given new life. I promise, this soup will in no way feel like a "leftovers meal".
Or you can do as I did and use a rotisserie chicken; I love their flavor and I can get multiple meals out of them. One chicken provided enough meat for this recipe and another that I'll be sharing shortly, a Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
As I've mentioned in the past, I am tragically allergic to garlic but I did swap out the cloves for a little bit of powder - by all means add in some chopped up cloves when you are sautéing the onion. I should also mention that there are very few things in the culinary world that I truly hate - however, the buck stops at cilantro. You will absolutely never see a recipe on this site that includes even the littlest whiff of the vile stuff. If you are crazy enough to be a fan of cilantro, I am sure chopping up some for a garnish would be a good idea. Just don't put any in mine thank you very much. Cilantro hatred is a real thing - just check out this site.
A few other notes before we get into the recipe - the easiest way I have found to chop up scallions is actually not by using a knife, but cutting them up with kitchen shears. Scallions are very delicate and I find that chopping with a knife bruises them. I used light coconut milk to keep with the healthy theme (plus it was what was in my cupboard) but you can also use regular and it would be even more rich and delicious :) Also, I toned back the fish sauce from the original recipe because I really struggle with its flavor - it's very overpowering (I do not recommend smelling it from the jar...). One tablespoon is plenty but feel free to double it if you aren't as averse to the sauce as I am. And lastly, when preparing green beans and snow peas - I just use my hands to snip off one end of the green beans (no need to do both) but the snow peas didn't snap as well so I used a knife to trim both ends. Hope you enjoy this soup - stay warm!
Coconut curry chicken noodle soup
Inspired from Chew Out Loud
Time: About an hour (an active hour!)
Servings: 6
Level: Easy
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon red curry paste
2 teaspoons Hot Madras curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (yes I know this is actually the seed of the cilantro plant but it tastes and smells nothing like it...trust me)
6 cups chicken stock
1 can (13.5 ounce) light coconut milk
1 pound cooked chicken, shredded
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
Kosher salt and ground pepper, to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime
6-8 ounces snow peas, ends trimmed
6 ounces fresh green beans, one end snipped then cut into roughly 1-inch pieces
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
Noodles (I used some random frozen udon noodles but you can also use a package of dry, wide rice noodles like the original recipe calls for)
Lime wedges for serving
Directions
In a large pot (loving my Le Creuset 5.5 quart!), heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, red curry paste and all of the spices (through coriander in the list above). Sauté for 1 minute, stirring to make sure the onion gets fully coated in the spices.
Add the chicken stock; raise the heat to high and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, fill a large pot with water, season liberally with salt (think "salty like the sea"; that's my motto but I like salt!), and bring to a boil.
Back to the pot of soup - once boiling, add the coconut milk, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the chicken, scallions, sugar and fish sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.
Taste the soup - add salt and pepper as needed. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime and stir it up. Turn off the heat and cover the pot to keep it warm.
Hopefully your pot of water is boiling - add the peas and green beans and cook for 30 seconds. I like my veggies to have a crunch but if you don't like them al dente, by all means, leave them in the water for longer. Add spinach leaves and cook just until they wilt (less than 30 seconds). Remove all of the vegetables with a slotted spoon and place into a large bowl.
In the same pot of water, add in your noodles and cook following the package's directions. Drain the noodles then add them to the bowl of veggies, mixing everything together.
Place some of the veggie/noodle mixture into each serving bowl then pour the chicken soup over it.
Garnish with lime wedges, if desired, and serve.
Note: If you aren't feeding a crowd, store the leftovers separately (do not put the noodles into the broth or they will soak up all the liquid).
Mangia!