The "L" Word: Curried Coconut Chicken Soup

It may still be sunny, but there's a chill in the air. I hear leaves crunching underfoot as children walk by the house on their way to school. Agriculturist and author J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur first coined the term "Indian Summer" in 1778 in his Letters from an American Farmer, describing it as a season when "the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warmth…its characteristics are a tranquil atmosphere and general smokiness."

Tatsoi, an Asian brassica.

It's the season to turn on the stove again after a long, dry summer and think about soups and braises, stews and one-pot suppers. I'm back to my weekly habit of roasting a chicken, making sure to buy the largest available so there are leftovers for salads, tacos and soups, not to mention slowly simmering the picked-over carcass in water to make stock—yes, that's what "bone broth" is—that'll go into risottos, soups and myriad other dishes.

As I was casting about for something to make for dinner the other night (a situation that occurs all too often around here) I came across some of that leftover chicken in the fridge then found a couple of cans of coconut milk in the pantry. A glance in the vegetable bin revealed a bunch of spinach-like tatsoi (photo, above left) and a finger of ginger, and I was off to the races.

Thai-Style Curried Coconut Chicken Soup

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1-2 Tbsp. curry powder, to taste
2 c. chicken stock (or corn stock or water)
2 13.5-oz. cans coconut milk
2 c. cooked chicken
2 kaffir lime leaves
2” finger of ginger, peeled and halved
4 c. tatsoi, chopped (or bok choi, spinach or other greens)
1 Tbsp. harissa (or 1/4 tsp. cayenne or to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
Salt, to taste
Cilantro leaves, chopped roughly (optional)

Heat oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add onion and sauté until tender and translucent. Add garlic and curry powder and stir to combine. Add remaining ingredients except for lime juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook 30 minutes to an hour*, stirring occasionally. Just before serving stir in lime juice and adjust salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

* If you like, while the soup simmers, put on a pot of rice and serve a scoop of it in your soup.

Read more The "L" Word posts about creative (and delicious) uses of leftovers.

Asian Inflection

In an alternate universe, my comfort food of choice would be kimchi, made the way my mother learned it from her mother and aged the way it had been for generations in big clay urns on the roof of our house. Or maybe the tastes I crave would be fish sauce-tinged, burning with the heat of the little hot peppers my father grew in his garden outside our front door, the seeds brought from his mother's garden in her village in the mountains.

This particular fantasy assumes that there would be culinary skills passed down to me from my (imaginary) mother or grandmother, recipes peculiar to her village or region. But, alas, my white bread mid-century upbringing brought with it a knowledge of potato-chip crusted tuna casserole and pot roast rather than Bun Tom Thit Nurong. Sigh.

Browning the meat in the spices.

So I, like Blanche DuBois, am left to the kindness of strangers when I need my Asian fix, in this case the estimable skills of Mark Bittman, himself the child of Jewish parents who has moved beyond the borders of that cuisine to adopt those of other cultures. His coconut braised beef, for example, first published in 2005 and then again just a week or so ago, is a brilliant adaptation for braised chuck roast with a Thai twist. Its inclusion of chiles, lime zest, coconut milk, garlic and ginger is as near as I've come to the real thing, made from ingredients I usually have available.

Maybe it's time to sign up for that cooking class in Vietnam. What do you think?

Coconut Braised Beef
Adapted from Mark Bittman, The New York Times' The Minimalist

2 hot dried red chilies
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2" piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbps. chili powder (I used 1 dried aci sivri pepper)
1/4-1/2 tsp. fish sauce
Juice and zest of 2 limes, or 2 Tbsp. rice or other mild vinegar
2 Tbsp. canola, grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 lbs. beef, preferably chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 c. coconut milk (or 1 can, about 1 1/2 cups, plus 1/2 cup water)
Salt to taste

Put chiles, garlic, ginger, chili powder, fish sauce, lime juice and zest in bowl of a food processor, and process until everything is minced, or mince by hand and combine.

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a skillet that can later be covered. Add spice paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add beef, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and covered with sauce.

Pour in coconut milk, and bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer, stirring only occasionally (but making sure mixture is simmering very slowly, with just a few bubbles at a time breaking the surface) until meat is extremely tender, at least an hour and possibly closer to 2.

Uncover and cook until sauce is very thick and caramel-colored, stirring frequently so it does not brown. Season to taste with salt, and serve with white rice.

Curry in a Hurry

I'd been working on a story for FoodDay all day and hadn't looked up from my keyboard for several hours.

I saw what time it was and realized that Dave would be home from work in just a few minutes. I had no idea what we were having for dinner, but remembered seeing a recipe on my brother's blog that he said took as long to make as it took to cook the rice that went with it. Perfect!

(And it got rave reviews from my none-the-wiser family who thought I'd slaved over it for hours. Ha!)

Thai Green Curry Shrimp
Adapted from Epicurious

1 Tbsp. peanut oil or vegetable oil
1 c. thinly sliced onion
1 c. chopped green onions
1-2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste (start with the lesser amount and add more to taste)
1 14-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk (I used Trader Joe's light version)
1 c. chicken broth
3 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce (I use a Thai brand called Phu Quoc that is amazing)
2 tsp. sugar
1 c. diced tomatoes
2 lbs. uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
Salt, to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges

Heat peanut oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion; stir-fry until soft and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add green onions and curry paste; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, fish sauce, and sugar; bring to boil. Add tomatoes and boil 2 minutes. Add shrimp and cook just until opaque in center, stirring often, about 3 to 5 minutes depending on size of shrimp. Add salt to taste. Transfer curry to large shallow bowl. Garnish with cilantro. Serve, passing lime wedges separately.

Splendor in the Squash

One of the joys of fall is the appearance of piles of wildly colorful squash at the supermarket, from delicatas to cinderella pumpkins to carnival squashes, along with old friends acorn and butternut. Versatile and flavorful, there's no end to their use in dishes as varied as soups, casseroles, risottos, pasta dishes, even desserts.

So when I found a nice little Cinderella pumpkin at my local market, I just had to take it home, chop it up and bake it with no idea how I'd use it. Which is half the fun of buying it in the first place. In this case, I scooped out the flesh, put it in a container and stuck it in the fridge while I pondered my options.

Looking on Epicurious for something different, I ran across a recipe calling for pumpkin and coconut milk to make a creamy Thai-influenced soup. It came together very quickly and got raves from the crowd here, so it looks like this one will be making another appearance before long.

Silky Coconut Pumpkin Soup (keg bouad mak fak kham)
adapted from Epicurious.com

3 to 4 shallots, minced
1 1/2 lbs. cooked pumpkin
2 c. canned or fresh coconut milk
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce, or to taste
Generous grindings of black pepper
1 c. loosely packed coriander leaves, chopped fine

Coat the bottom of a medium-sized soup pot with canola oil and sauté the shallots over low heat. Place the coconut milk, broth and pumpkin flesh in the pot and bring to a boil. Add the salt and simmer over medium heat, about 10 minutes. Stir in the fish sauce and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Taste for salt and add a little more fish sauce if you wish.

Take the soup off the burner and, using an immersion blender, purée the soup till smooth and creamy. If using a blender, allow to cool slightly and puree one cup at a time. The soup can be served immediately, but has even more flavor if left to stand for up to an hour. Reheat just before serving.
Serve from a large soup bowl or in individual bowls. Grind black pepper over generously, and, if you wish, garnish with a sprinkling of cilantro. Put any leftover cilantro in a small bowl on the table and sprinkle at will. Leftovers freeze very well.