The day I made this soup it was a strange weather day in Alaska. It’s winter and there’s supposed to be lots of snow on the ground and it should be really cold. But instead, we had very strong winds at our house and the temperature hovered around 42 degrees all day. While I like the warmer temperatures, I don’t like the freeze/thaw that happens, making the roads really slick. And time will tell how many of my flowers will make it through the winter, considering they’ve spent a lot of time this winter without their nice thick blanket of protective snow.
Being as the weather was blustery and my husband felt like he was coming down with a cold, it felt like a perfect evening for a bowl of soup. I knew I wanted to do something with shrimp, and I also had broccoli I wanted to use. So I found a recipe for Thai Chicken Soup and made some adjustments. I added a lot of healthy broccoli and carrots and used shrimp instead of chicken. The soup is very flavorful with all of the spices, and quite filling with the noodles and coconut milk. It would be very good topped with cilantro. Feel free to adjust the variety or quantity of vegetables or use more chili paste if you want it really hot. If you’re not a huge fan of coconut milk I think you could use 1can and add extra chicken or vegetable broth. I have lots of leftovers for tomorrow, so this made probably 4 very large bowls or 6 regular sized bowls of soup.
SHRIMP AND VEGETABLE CURRY SOUP
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced lemon grass
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dark red chili paste, such as sambal, more for serving
1 small head broccoli, chopped into small pieces
2 lg carrots, chopped into small pieces
1 lb peeled shrimp
3 tablespoons curry powder, preferably Malaysian, Thai or Vietnamese
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 cans (14 ounces) light coconut milk
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar, more to taste
Juice of 1 lime
2 small pkgs bean thread noodles
1. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and lemon grass and cook, stirring, until softened, about 10 minutes. Do not brown; reduce heat if necessary. Add garlic and chili paste and stir until fragrant. Add broccoli and carrots and stir fry until just beginning to soften. Add shrimp and stir-fry one minute. Add curry powder and paprika and stir to coat. Then add coconut milk, chicken stock, turmeric, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until shrimp is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, soak noodles in hot water according to package directions (about 5 minutes). Drain. drain.
3. Taste broth and adjust seasonings with salt and sugar and garlic sauce. Add noodles to soup and warm through. Ladle into bowls.