Welcome to this week’s delicious yet wholly unanticipated meal!
Now you might be thinking: “Literally what, Zazzy? You’re a cooking blog, why would a meal be unanticipated?” And you would have much reason, I concur. It’s simply that this recipe was more of a rescue mission rather than a product of my diligent search for new foods to try. But I’ll start at the beginning.
The other night, I was doing homework when my mother called upstairs, asking my sister or I to give her a hand. In the middle of a paragraph, I called back that I’d be down in 5, but when my sister responded in kind I felt bad. I therefore trotted downstairs. I expected to find an onion in need of chopping, maybe some beans to strain. Instead, I found my mother BLEEDING PROFUSELY from her finger, a wound which testified to her valiant struggle against a stalk of lemongrass.
After some hasty first aid and many assurances from my mother that she did not, in fact, need to go to the hospital, I was gifted the responsibility of completing her soup. Luckily no blood was added in the making of this dish, and despite the treacherous nature of the cooking process, this Thai Coconut Curry Soup is absolutely… I won’t say to die for (let’s not jinx anything), but if you were staring at two diverging paths in a narrow wood and the left one was turning into a river of this soup, I would suggest grabbing a Costco inflatable raft and hopping on in!
Although this is from my mum’s recipe book, it’s originally from Chef Michael Smith, a very talented cook whose website appears to hold sacred gastronomical knowledge. Many thanks to this brilliant chef for sharing this tasty treat.
The ingredients are as follow:
- 2 cans (14-ounce/400 mL each) of premium coconut milk
- 1 heaping tablespoon (20 mL) of Thai curry paste
- the tender stems of 1 bunch of cilantro, rinsed well
- 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 2 cups (500 mL0 of chicken broth
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 4 or 5 lime leaves
- 2 stalks of lemon grass, halved lengthwise w/out woody leaves DANGER: CUT WITH CARE!
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of fish sauce
- the zest and juice of 2 limes
- a small knob frozen ginger
- a handful bean sprouts
- a 8 ounce (225 g) package rice noodles
- 1 bunch of cilantro leaves, rinsed well
- 2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- a sprinkle or two of salt or soy sauce
I began by scooping the coconut cream from the top of one of the cans into a large stockpot, over about medium-high heat. As it melted, I added the curry paste and stirred for a few minutes until they made a pretty colour and began to sizzle.
Next, I tossed in the cilantro roots and chicken, sautéing until the chicken was cooked through, which took about 5 minutes.
I then poured in the coconut juice from the first can and emptied the contents of the second can into the pot. I also added chicken broth, carrot, lime leaves, lemon grass (BEWARE), fish sauce, and lime zest and juice. I grated the frozen ginger into the broth before letting it all simmer for about 20 minutes.
After that, I stirred in the bean sprouts and added the rice noodles, giving them a little nudge into the yumminess of the broth to submerge them. It was then time to turn off the heat, and then I let everything stand until the noodles softened, which took another 5 minutes. Apparently rice noodles don’t need to simmer like pasta to cook; they simply need to rehydrate in the hot liquid, which made Zazzy’s life a whole lot easier.
I then stirred in most of the cilantro leaves, fished around for and removed the ever-offensive lemon grass stalks, and did a little taste test, which gratified my taste buds in indescribable ways. I then added a touch more salt before finally ladling the delicious concoction into some bowls for us. We garnished with cilantro leaves and ohhhhhh my god was this soup incredible. Not necessarily worth the blood sacrifice, but if there was an easier way of making blood debts towards the soup gods in return for this taste I would certainly be tempted.

Thankfully, though, the recipe is here, so you can make it yourselves and leave your life-juice to continue pumping oxygen and nutrients through your body.
Zazzy’s apparently going crazy… and talking in third person… we must be approaching the end of the semester. Let me know any suggestions, complaints or amazing puns in the comments below, and I hope you all join me next week as I finally confront my nemesis. The cakes of pan will not strike me down so easily this time.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.