http://www.cookingforseven.com/2011/01/coconut-chicken-curry-soup/

Coconut & Chicken Curry Soup

Erica Lea on Jan 1st 2011

Having lived in Minnesota my whole life, I’ve become quite accustomed to temperatures that dip well below freezing for months on end; to drifts of snow several feet high. Do I bemoan my fate and pine for summer? Not at all!

I love being able to stand by the fire, pull on warm socks & sweaters, and enjoy a bowl of steaming soup.

Here’s a recipe that’s sure to keep you cozy. Not only by it’s thermal heat - the spicy jalapeño peppers will keep your taste buds hopping!

Notes: I added my own spin to this recipe. We had some fresh ginger in the refrigerator, so I added a tablespoon or so. I thought the amount of spicy heat was perfect, but if you prefer a milder flavor simply leave out the jalapeño peppers and reduce the amount of curry powder.

The original recipe suggest that you serve the soup with jasmine rice. The soup was wonderful on its own, though I would like to try it with rice or rice noodles.

Coconut & Chicken Curry Soup

Adapted from a recipe by Katie Goodman

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1/2 of a large onion, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk, full fat
• 2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 jalapeño, seeded, minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 small green bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish
• 1/2 cup unsweetened chipped coconut
• 2 cups freshly cooked jasmine rice (optional)

Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a medium sized soup pot over medium heat. Add the chicken to the oil, season lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until cooked through and golden. Remove chicken and set aside. Sauté the onion, adding more oil if necessary, until tender.

2) Return the chicken to the pot with the onions. Add the ginger; cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth, coconut milk, curry powder and jalapeno. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add bell pepper and cilantro and simmer an additional 3 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) Optional: Spoon rice into 4 bowls. Top with a ladle or two of soup. Garnish with additional cilantro and a sprinkling of shredded coconut. Serve.

Makes approximately 6 servings

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Most of us are familiar with slow cookers and rely on them from time to time when we want a home cooked meal that requires very little effort. There are many reasons to love a slow cooker. Speed is not one of them.

A pressure cooker, on the other hand, can do just about everything a slow cooker can in a fraction of the time. The basic idea is the same: throw meat and vegetables in a pot, add seasonings and enough liquid to cover the ingredients, put on the lid and walk away. But instead of walking away for 4-8 hours, like you would with a slow cooker, a pressure cooker gives you just enough time to change out of your work clothes and sort through the junk mail before dinner is done. In about 30 minutes a whole chicken or several pounds of tough stew meat are transformed into a meal that will melt in your mouth, rich with flavor and perfectly cooked. In an hour, an entire pot roast will fall apart with tenderness.

A pressure cooker is locked shut and seals in all the water vapor that rise up from the simmering liquid and ingredients in the pot. The increased pressure increases the cooking temperature and triples the amount of heat transferred into the meat while it cooks. This tenderizes meat at a remarkably fast rate. Using a pressure cooker is also an efficient way to cook stock, as the high temperature will coax flavor and collagen out of bones in record time. Just add your bones and animal parts, throw in a few cups of chopped carrots, celery and onion, plus enough water to cover everything, and cook for 35 minutes or so.

Are there any downsides to using a pressure cooker? Well, when it really gets going a pressure cooker sounds a little bit like a steam locomotive moving through your kitchen. Though if used correctly, there is no reason to fear that the pot will blow its lid and spray scalding steam across your kitchen, as some people fear. The lid of a pressure cooker locks tightly into place and can only be opened if you press a button to release the latch.



When removed from heat, the cooker slowly lowers the pressure inside on its own (or can be run under cold water to speed up the process) and will indicate when it is safe to remove the lid. Newer models of pressure cookers have all sorts of added features for safety and ease of use and are pretty much fool-proof.



If you’re one of those people who’s had a pressure cooker in your cupboard for years but have always been afraid of using it, now’s the time. Thirty-five minutes later, when you’re sitting down to a warm bowl of tender meat and vegetables, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew
Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:



2 pounds beef stew meat
Several tablespoons of oil
1 onion, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
4 garlic cloves
3 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs of thyme
Instructions:

Season meat lightly with salt and pepper. With the lid off, heat oil in the pressure cooker over medium high heat. Brown the meat, 3-5 minutes. (The meat will brown better if you brown half of it, then remove it from the pot and brown the other half.)

When all the beef is browned, add the onion, carrots and garlic (and any other vegetables). Saute a few minutes more then add broth, tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme sprigs.



Put the lid on the pressure cooker, making sure it clicks into place, and turn the heat to high. As soon as the pressure cooker begins to loudly release steam, set the timer and cook the stew for 25 minutes. When the steam valve comes down, remove the lid. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Pressure Cooker Chicken and Broth
Servings: 4

Ingredients:



Several tablespoons oil
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 white or yellow onion, chopped or sliced
One 4-pound chicken
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
8-12 cups water
Optional: garlic cloves and fresh herbs
Instructions:

With the lid off, heat oil in the pressure cooker over medium high heat. Add carrots, celery and onion and sauté 3-5 minutes.



Add the whole chicken, breast side down, and then add salt, peppercorns and bay leaves. Add enough water to just barely cover the chicken, 8-12 cups.

Put the lid on the pressure cooker, making sure it clicks into place, and turn the heat to high. As soon as the pressure cooker begins to loudly release steam, set the timer for 35 minutes. When the steam valve comes down, remove the lid.

Using tongs, remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. The chicken can be added back to the broth to make soup, or you can eat the chicken separately and then strain and refrigerate the broth for later use.

Cooking Steps

This is one of my favorite soups. It is light and fresh, and you can make it as spicy as you like.
( I make my own chicken stock, if I have previously baked a whole chicken)
-You could also make this a post thanksgiving soup, using turkey instead.

1. Simmer your stock.
2. Add chicken.
3. Make Pico de Gallo. (Chop the following ingredients and add them to the stock)
-Tomatoes
-Onion
-Cilantro
-Jalapenos (How spicy you wanna make it is up to you)
-Garlic (optional)
-Squeeze lime juice into the mix
4. I prefer my veggies “fresh” so I dont cook them too long.
5. Lastly I add diced avocado on top.

(I promise you that the picture doesnt do this soup justice)

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Serves 4

30 mins

This is a Non-Dairy Recipe

Ingredients

• Chicken
• Chicken Stock
• Tomato
• Onion
• Cilantro
• Chili peppers / Jalapenos
• Lime
• Garlic (optional)
• Avocado

Add to Favorite Recipes!
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Nutritional Information
Per Serving:

Net Carbs: 5 grams

Fiber: 2 grams

Protein: 3 grams

Fat: 14 grams

Calories: 156

Recipe Information:

Makes: 4 servings

Prep Time: 0:15:00

Marinate Time: 0:00:00

Cook Time: 0:15:00

Cool Time: 0:00:00

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 leek (white part only), halved lengthwise, washed well and chopped
¾ pound asparagus, cut into ½ pieces
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 can (14 ½ ounces) chicken broth
⅓ cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add leeks and sauté for 3 minutes. Add asparagus and cook 1 minute more. Add garlic and sauté for 30 more seconds.
2. Add broth to pot and bring to a boil.
3. Lower heat, cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until asparagus is tender.
4. Mix in cream, salt and pepper. Blend soup in a food processor or blender until smooth.
5. Return to pot to heat through before serving (if necessary). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Steal This Meal: Feed a cold

Today’s STM feature comes from our good friend and rock star CrossFit trainer Kassandra McKenzie of CrossFit South Arlington. Kass wrote to us earlier this week with a fabulous STM idea for those of us who are battling a winter cold or flu. When you’re sick, all you want is “comfort food” – for us, it’s grilled cheese, tomato soup and ice cream. But we think unhealthy food when you’re already down and out is a terrible idea – why pile even more stress on an already stressed system? Kass agreed, writing, “I know how hard it was for me to adjust to eating good food while down with the flu, so I want to help pass the good word along to anyone who may need it.” So Kass got to work coming up with a better solution.

Kass not only passed along her favorite recipe, she also included tips and tricks (in her inimitable style and sass) for getting you back on the healthy bus fast. Thanks for the write-up, Kass!

Steal This Meal: Feed a Cold

by Kassandra McKenzie, CrossFit South Arlington

Imagine this: you’re humming along your everyday life, eating Paleo and just living the dream when BAM! You’re hit with the black plague. This could be the flu, strep throat, cold, whatever — the bottom line is that you’re feeling way crappy and you want to get better ASAP. But when you’re on a Whole30 program, you can’t rely on old-school “comfort” food like chicken noodle soup, Saltine crackers, and Sprite. So what are you going to do?!

Before you give up on your nutrition choices and feel even worse than you already do by eating poisonous things, think about what you should eat while sick – we’re talking real food. I love making soup because it’s an easy way to cook up some veggies and meat with very little effort. The task can seem daunting at first, but I really do promise: soup is no drama.

Easy Chicken Soup Ingredients:

• 1-2# cubed chicken breasts, cooked (or pulled chicken from a cooked whole bird)
• 2 quarts chicken broth (Imagine brand makes a Whole30-compliant broth, or read your labels – no added corn, rice, soy or sugar!)
• A busload of diced/chopped vegetables of choice*
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves minced garlic, or to taste (garlic powder is also good here)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, or favorite cooking oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

*Traditional would be carrots and celery, but nutrient density is key when you’re sick. I love using kale, broccoli, leeks, cauliflower, and mushrooms. (Broccoli and cauliflower tend to absorb the salt and garlic in their “trees” – yum.) The possibilities are endless here.

Easy Chicken Soup Directions:

• Melt coconut oil on medium-high heat in large pot.
• Add diced onions, cayenne pepper, and garlic and cook until onions are starting to soften.
• Add all vegetables and continue to cook 5-7 minutes.
• Add chicken broth and stir.
• When soup gets to be really hot, almost boiling, add chicken and stir.
• Turn the heat down and serve the soup hot, but not scalding

The little bit of cayenne pepper in this soup helps clear the sinuses without killing your mouth with spiciness. You can add any of your favorite herbs to this mix, as well as use any kind of meat. I’ve had great results with sausage, lamb, and turkey. You can plan ahead your next sick day by having some of these leftovers in your freezer so you can just defrost and start feeling better.

Kass’s (and Whole9′s) Best Sick-y Tips

Some other things that I’ve found that comfort me while I’m sick:

• Club soda or mineral water: The bubbles help me burp, which makes my stomach feel better. And, HYDRATION!
• Skip the dairy: It can make you even more snotty/sniffly/mucous-y.
• Skip the crackers: Try carb-dense veggies like sweet potato, butternut squash or pumpkin instead of Saltines for a queasy stomach that needs something that’s easy to digest
• Ginger and apples: An old cruise ship remedy to help battle nausea – fresh or pickled ginger and sliced apples
• Broth: Beef, chicken, veggie, all help with a sore throat, warm you up from the chills, and hydrate you
• Real Food: When I’m feeling up to eating something, I like to eat some of the above soup or some plain chicken breasts cooked with a little oil and salt and pepper.
• Herbal teas: Check out your local tea shop, Whole Foods, or grocery store and you’ll find some great teas that help soothe the throat, aid in digestion, calm, and clear up congestion.
• Sleep: Lots of it. I’d rather be awake for far less hours than I’m asleep when I’m sick.
• Snuggie: Don’t you dare think that your current blanket is as good as this one whilst you’re recovering from the black plague. Try it, you’ll thank me.
• Netflix: Are amazing. Tons of movies to stream on demand.
• Someecards: Send them by the dozen. What else are you going to do when you’re laid out in bed?

And finally, our best tip yet… Remember that bad food made me feel bad when I was healthy, so bad food while I’m feeling bad is a recipe for disaster.