thai coconut soup

1) with shrimp 2) add basmati rice to the bowl before adding soup 3) with chicken 4) recipe & current favourite cookbook

If you remember my No.1 resolution* for this year was/is to cook more Asian food ('cause we love it & for the most part it's super healthy and fits perfectly into our diet plan). This Thai coconut soup is very easy, absolutely delicious and is a great way to use up any assortment of vegetables you may have in the fridge. My adaptations from the recipe above are as follows.

- substitute fresh ginger for galangal (we like lots of ginger)
- I use my fav garlic-chilli sauce instead of fresh chilli (1-3tsps depending on how hot you like it)
- 1 can of coconut milk and 2 cups of chicken broth (tetra pack)
- poach a chicken breast in the broth, cool, shred and add back in for chicken version
- poach medium/large raw shell on frozen (thawed) or fresh shrimp in broth, 4-6 per person
- my essential veggies are corn & tomato (cherry or diced) added near the end, you just want to heat them
- something green is nice - in the chicken version thinly sliced celery & carrot just cooked until no longer raw. In the shrimp version I added blanched green beans (broccoli, peas). Chinese mushrooms, or bean sprouts added near the end would also be a fantastic addition both for taste & texture. Garnish with finely sliced green onion & roughly chopped fresh cilantro.
- my adaptation makes 2 dinner size servings or 4 appetizer/starter servings (we add 1/2 cup of basmati rice to the bowl before ladling in the soup to make a meal of it).

Trust me ... you'll be making this soup all the time. It's a taste sensation ;-) Enjoy !

* I'm doing amazingly well with my first 5 resolutions. I'll be sure to post the remaining 5 + my final decision for my "one little word" for 2013 before this month is up - promise ;-)