Monday, February 18, 2013

Thai Red Curry Chicken and Corn Soup

Yum
 I love coming up with new soups I can make with leftover rotisserie chicken.  It makes me feel like I am utilizing every bit of the rotisserie and not wasting anything.  This large pot of soup only costs a few dollars to make when you consider that the stock and chicken were from the leftover rotisserie that we would not have eaten.  I consider Thai coconut soups one of my favorites styles of soup so using some red curry paste in this soup was exciting and fun.  My husband ate two bowls of this soup for lunch and was raving on not only how good it was in flavor but how smart I was by using up all the leftover ingredients in our fridge.  Kudos to me. :) 


Ingredients:

Homemade Chicken Stock:
1 chicken (leftover roast or rotisserie preferable)
1 onion
1-2 carrots
1-2 celery
8 cups of water
1-2 bay leaves
1 tsp black pepper corns
1 Tbs parsley (fresh or dried)
salt to taste or bullion cubes
1-2 slices lemon (optional)

Red Curry Soup Ingredients:
Broth from homemade stock (total of 8 cups of liquid needed-substitute water and bullion if shy)
2 cups of shredded chicken
1Tbs canola oil
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger
2-3 cloves garlic minced finely or grated
1 cup carrot diced finely
1 cup celery diced finely
1 cup bell pepper diced finely (any color diced finely)
1-2 stalks lemongrass (bottom portion only- bruised gently)
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes with chilies
1-2 Tbs Thai red curry paste
1-2 Tbs fish sauce (to taste)
2 cups coconut milk (low-fat coconut milk is good here) 
2 cups frozen corn
1/2-1 tsp brown sugar (if needed to balance the fish sauce salty flavor)
1 cup of fresh Thai basil leaves 
limes juice to taste - serve at table


Directions:
For Homemade Stock:
Place all ingredients for stock into large soup pot and bring to a boil for 45-55 minutes.  Strain ingredients out of stock so you have a clear stock.  Discard all other ingredients except chicken.  De-bone cooked chicken and cut into small chunks.

To make Red Curry Soup:
Heat large soup pot with 1 Tbs canola oil.  Saute diced celery, bell peppers, lemongrass and carrots for 2 minutes. .  Then add ginger and garlic and saute for another minute.  Next add red curry paste and saute for another minute.  Then add prepared chicken stock, diced tomatoes, fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring ingredients to a boil for 10-12 minutes.  Next add shredded/diced cooked chicken, frozen corn, coconut milk and Thai basil leaves and simmer for 3-5 minutes.  Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve hot with lime wedges at the table.




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