Curry Coconut Noodle Soup

Hey Gorgeous Ones!

  V.V. is a soup FREAK (or maybe I just love one pot cooking. . .lazy bones. . .) so today I would like to share a recipe for a soup that is perfect for Spring: colourful, bright and spicy in flavor, with a serious kick to put some spring in your step (sorry, I couldn't resist the seasonal pun)!

  I use a blend of yellow and green curry pastes (is that even allowed?) because while I love the fresh, lemongrass/lime leaf flavor of green curry, I find it much, much, MUCH too spicy to use on it's own in this recipe.  Yellow curry would be just fine on it's own if you want a nice mild soup and even red curry paste is cool too.  Use whatever ratio of curry pastes to suit your taste, but V.V. will strongly caution you about using exclusively green curry (unless your tongue and digestive tract are lined with asbestos. . .it's HOT. . .or maybe I'm just a wuss!).

Curry Coconut Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

-1 pkg rice noodles

-1 tbsp veg oil

-5 tbsp curry paste, your call on the ratio, I use 3 tbsp yellow curry paste and 2 tbsp green curry paste and while the soup definitely has a kick to it, it wont burn your face off.

-4 cups veggie stock (or 4 cups water and some veggie bouillon cubes - staples in the V.V. kitchen!)

-1 tbsp tamari soy sauce

-1 can coconut milk

-juice of half a lemon

-your choice of garnishes: chopped basil, cilantro, spring onion, diced tofu, julienned cucumber, carrot, mango or red bell pepper, steamed cauliflour florets - whatever your little heart desires!

Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions.  Drain and rinse the noodles in cold water, then toss them with a bit of veg oil so they don't get too sticky icky and set aside.

In your fave soup pot, heat the veg oil over medium heat.  Cook the curry paste for a minute or two, until your kitchen becomes filled with the frangrant, exotic, scent of curry deliciousness. 

Add the stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil on high heat.

Reduce the heat to a low simmer and whisk in the coconut milk.  Simmer for ten minutes so the flavors become BFF's.

Add the lemon juice, taste the broth and season with S&P.

Divide the noodles and garnishes amongst some soup bowls and ladle the gorgeous broth over them. 

Seriously, how easy was that?

XOXO

V.V.

Sweet Potato Lentil Curry

Hey Dolls,

October has arrived and with it, the notion that cold weather is in our midst.  While I do find it sad that Summer has passed, cold weather = yummy cold weather comfort food.  One thing I find extremely comforting to eat is a big bowl of CURRY!  Warm, spicy and flavorful yumminess is just the thing I need on a chilly fall evening (and maybe a big mug of chai tea with vanilla soymilk, too!). 
Curries are super easy to make and you can put just about anything in them.  There are a gazillion different curry spice blends out there, but for this recipe I am just going to utilize simple, medium yellow curry powder.  We'll get to the green, red, tandoori, garam masala, phanaeng, and madras varieties another time :)  I find curry tastes even better the next day and it freezes beautifully, so make lots!

Sweet Potato Lentil Curry

Ingredients:

-2 tbsp veg oil

-1 large onion, diced

-1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

-3 stalks of celery, chopped

-6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

-1/2 a large head of cauliflower, chopped into bite sized florets

-1 tsp ground cinnmon

-1 - 2 tbsp curry powder (depending on how strong you like it)

-2 tomatoes, diced

-1 cup brown lentils

-S&P

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high-ish heat.  Add the onion, sweet potato, celery, garlic and cauliflower to the pot and sprinkle with cinnamon and curry powder and a bit of S&P. 

Cover with a lid and cook for about ten minutes, stirring often. 

 Add the tomatoes and lentils and cover with approx three cups of water, juuuuuust enough to barely cover the veg.



Bring the curry to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium.  Let the curry simmer until the lentils and sweet potatoes are very soft.  I like to reduce the heat to medium low once the lentils are just cooked, and then simmer the curry for an hour so the flavours become bff's.

Serve over brown basmati rice.  Maybe with some peach chutney or sliced banana or toasted almonds as a garnish :)

XOXO

V.V.

Spiced Po and To Matoes

HEY!!!!!


Made brekkie for Bee this mornin'.  Curry spiced potato wedges and broiled tomatoes with garlic, cumin and cilantro.  Some scrambled tofu on the side would make this great to serve for brunch!  I also made baked bananas for 'breakfast dessert' (slice banana in half, top one half with vegan chocolate chips and toasted coconut, put other half on top, wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 10 min).

Curried Potato Wedges and Broiled Tomatoes with Garlic and Cumin

Ingredients:

-4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into large wedges lengthwise

-2 tbsp veg oil

-1 tbsp curry powder

-2 slightly underripe tomatoes, washed and quartered

-1 tbsp veg oil

-1 tsp cumin

-3 cloves garlic, sliced

-1/3 cup chopped cilantro

-S&P

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.  Toss the potato wedges with the oil and curry powder.  Bake on a cookie sheet for thirty minutes or so, flipping the wedgies half way through cooking.  Season with S&P.

Set your oven to 'broil'.  In a small casserole dish, toss the quartered tomatoes with the oil and cumin.  Tuck the garlic into the tomato chunks, under the seeds and such and broil the tomatoes until they are melted and oozy.  About 5 min... Then toss the tomatoes with the cilantro and season with S&P.

NOW EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO

V.V.