For those who know me, you’ll know I have bit of a thing for cooking. With today’s economic issues and food constantly on the increase, it makes sense to bulk cook to a budget. Not only does this save the pennies, it also gives a back up food option when you make in excess, store safely you can then bring it out and eat further down the line.
With Autumn already upon us and Winter on the horizon, what better way to cook in bulk that to make a hearty soup. While, there are plenty of typical British options around, my taste has always been for something with a bit of a kick with far Eastern flavours.
I stumbled across this recipe when searching some time for the flavours I long for. I only hope that in future, the link still exists but for reference I have noted down the main list of ingredients and simple summary of what I do when making this delicious recipe.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/thai-chicken-and-sweet-potato-soup
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive or rapeseed
oil
- 2 garlic
cloves, chopped
- 1 red
chilli, deseeded and chopped
- 2cm chunk root
ginger, chopped
- 1 stalk
lemongrass, bashed
- 1 x 25g
pack coriander, leaves and stalks chopped separately
- 2 tbsp red Thai curry
paste
- 750ml chicken
stock (made with 2 stock cubes)
- 1 small can (160ml) coconut cream
- 500g sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 skinless chicken breasts, sliced
- 1 lime, juice only
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp fish sauce
- crusty bread, to serve
There are so many amazing things to say about this recipe in that it is relatively inexpensive, the recipe while intended for 4 as a starter or 2 as a main really depends on how hungry you are and I believe pretty healthy, being part of your five a day (full nutritional data on the website.
The recipe above easily does 4 as a main with the crusty bread but I double the
above to economise for later dates. Doubling this recipe, for me give enough for an extra dinner for 4 at a later date after freezing. Mainly the flavours are so good and really, with the warmth from the chillies and smoothness from the coconut, it gives that extra heating kick on a colder day – amazing.
Following the easy recipe I start out with the main ingredients to make the basis of the soup, that’s all of the ingredients down to the chicken. Note; the doubling up option does make ‘loads’ so ensure you have a decent sized saucepan.
Prepping the ingredients above is simple and takes no effort at all providing you have got everything organised well. I generally use fresh ginger and a tip for those who don’t know, place it in the freezer when you buy it. Not only does it keep longer, when its frozen its actually so much easier to grate. If you want to be lazy an alternative is to buy puree ginger – simples.
Another tip is on how hot you like the soup in terms of spice. The suggestion to remove the red chilli seeds for me depends on the strength of the red chilli paste you use. I suggest keeping them deseeded in the first instance but tailor to your preference.
After you have removed the lemon grass, blitzed the contents until the soup is smooth, you can, at this stage let the soup cool and freeze half (or whatever) you wish. This will avoid the prep the next time you fancy making this up.
At this point, you are now ready to put the chicken in to poach slowly until cooked, remembering to put in the fish sauce and lime juice.
Allow the chicken to be cooked through well enough and should you fancy, throw in some king prawns, sprinkle with coriander and serve with the crusty bread. I personally can’t get enough coriander. Apparently, some people think it tastes awful and like dirt? Unconvinced.
Let me know if you give the recipe a try and tell me how it goes. Are you a lover / hater of coriander? Did you try with the prawns? Any other deviations you’d consider give me a shout.
Happy eating
