In an attempt to try and up our culinary craftiness while eating healthy, we’ve been keeping to themed menus for the past few weeks. Each week we select a different country to learn from – but due to popular demand (read – because the other half said so) Thailand is featuring for the second time in one month! But I’m out of some of the essential Thai ingredients so I decided to make a “Thai-inspired” dish instead, a fusion if you will.
Immune Booster Thai Chicken Corn Soup
This healthy and wholesome soup is a classic with a twist – chicken corn soup done the Thai green curry way.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Soup
- 2 cooked chicken breasts – shredded*
- Corn from 2 corn cobs/1.5 cups frozen corn or 1 can sweetcorn
- Green curry paste **
- 400ml Coconut Milk (or cream)
- 750ml vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Shallots or other onions
- 10ml olive oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- Salt & pepper
*Fry the chicken breasts until just cooked then shred by using two forks. Or, leave out the chicken altogether if you’re vegetarian.
**I made my own salsa-like green curry mixture, but you can use store bought paste – scroll to the bottom of the page for my home-made version.
Additional Extras
The great thing about this soup is that you can add pretty much any vegetable you like. This is what I used:
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup asparagus
- 2 cups broccoli
- 1 cup carrots
- 1 small cabbage – shredded (Bok Choy is a lovely alternative)
- 1-2 raw scrambled eggs
Garnish
- Coriander leaves
- Chopped spring onion
- Chopped raw carrot
METHOD:
- Heat oil in a large pot then fry the shallots until translucent.
- Add the green curry mixture and sweat for 3-5 minutes until fragrant (the part where you feel the chilli and garlic tickle your nose) 😉.
- If you’re using carrots or starchy vegetables add them first (the other veggies will be added later).
- Mix in the rice vinegar, and let it reduce for a few minutes before adding the stock, water and soy sauce.
- Add the corn and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Swirl the soup mixture with a spoon then add the raw egg slowly. Watch it do its magic and move on to the next step.
- Now you can add the softer veggies, mushroom, asparagus, broccoli, and the chicken to the soup.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Place the cabbage on top of the soup, close the lid and let it sit for 3 minutes.
- Turn off the stove and mix in the coconut milk/cream.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Pour the hearty mix into soup bowls, garnish with coriander leaves, carrots and spring onion. Drizzle with lemon juice and dig in!
- Sit back and enjoy the sizzle of a strengthening immune-system!
Optional: Thai Green Curry Salsa/Paste
The reason behind salsa is that I use a food blender and not a food processor, which is still do-able because the flavour is spot-on! But! A food processor is better, because it’ll create a paste that will add a lovely pastel green tint to the soup.
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 4 chillies of your choice – the smaller they are, the hotter the curry (feel free to add more)
- 1-2 inch ginger, peeled
- 2 lemongrass sticks
- 4 sprigs of spring onion
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- Bunch of coriander/cilantro leaves
METHOD:
- Clean and peel the ingredients, chop off the woody bits of the lemongrass and spring onion.
- Add all ingredients (including fish paste) to a food processor and blend. Fine chopping will also do.
- Refrigerate until needed for the main recipe.
Happy Cooking!