Thai Coconut Curry Soup with Chicken

I absolutely love this recipe, and there is nothing better than a thick and creamy healthy Thai soup on a hot or cold night. Most of these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store, but lime leaves are harder to find, so I opted to leave these out and the recipe still tasted great. Also to clarify what tender cilantro stems are; I took a handful of fresh cilantro with stems intact and threw them into my broth. This recipe is super tasty the next day, just remove noodles from your broth and store them separately so the noodles do not absorb any of the broth. 

Ingredients:

2 cans of premium coconut milk
1 heaping tablespoon of Thai curry paste
The tender stems of 1 bunch of cilantro, rinsed well 
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
2 cups of chicken broth
1 carrot, shredded
4 or 5 lime leaves (optional)
2 stalks of lemon grass, halved lengthwise, woody leaves removed
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Small knob frozen ginger
2 handfuls of bean sprouts (2 cups or so)
8 ounce package rice noodles or Gluten-free noodles (optional)
1 bunch of cilantro leaves, rinsed well
2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Add a sprinkle or two of Celtic salt or Tamari (soy sauce)

Thai curry pastes get their heat from chili peppers, but they’re also loaded with other flavors. You may use as much or as little as you like. Yellow is the mildest; green the hottest. Try stirring in a head of chopped Asian greens or baby spinach with the bean sprouts. You may easily substitute beef or shrimp for the chicken.

Directions:

Scoop the thick coconut cream from the top of just one of the cans into a large stockpot set over a medium-high heat. Melt the cream, add the curry paste and stir for a few minutes until they begin to sizzle.

Add the cilantro roots and chicken and sauté until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Add the coconut juice from the first can and all the contents of the second can along with the chicken broth, carrot, lime leaves, lemon grass, fish sauce and lime zest and juice. Grate the frozen ginger into the broth with a Microplane grater or standard box grater. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Stir in the bean sprouts. Add the rice noodles, gently pushing them beneath the surface of the broth. Turn off the heat and let stand until the noodles soften, about 5 minutes. Rice noodles don’t need to simmer like pasta to cook; they simply need to rehydrate in the hot liquid.

Stir in most of the cilantro leaves. Remove the lemon grass stalks. Taste and season with a touch more salt (Tamari or soy sauce) as needed. Ladle into large bowls and garnish with the green onions and remaining cilantro leaves.