Thai Chicken Soup

After a whirlwind twenty-four hour trip to Martha's Vineyard for work, I was excited to cook a nice leisurely meal last night.  I flipped through my recipe book for recipes that were torn out from old cooking magazines and I decided to make the Food Network Magazine's Thai Chicken Soup from their November 2010 issue.  Per usual, I adapted the recipe a little based on ingredients I already had in the kitchen and to my own taste.

First, I took two chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw earlier in the day.  When I was ready to cook dinner, I gathered the rest of the ingredients:



I forgot to photograph the red curry paste!

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons hot red curry paste (original recipe calls for green curry paste)
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 15-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 red bell pepper and 1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced (original recipe calls for 2 red bell peppers and no jalapeno pepper)
• 4 ounces soy bean strips, broken into pieces (original recipe calls for thin rice noodles)
• 2 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), very thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste
• 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that Bret and I love to cook together.  But since I've been working from home a lot lately, I've been doing most of the cooking.  But last night, Bret and I had all the time in the world and we leisurely cooked dinner together.  We first prepped the onion, peppers, cilantro and chicken breasts.

Then I warmed my Le Creuset Dutch oven on the stove with the vegetable oil on medium-high heat.  I added the onion slices and cooked them until they were softened and lightly browned.

I then used a garlic press to mince the garlic into the pot and I also added the curry paste.  I stirred everything together.

After a few minutes, I added the chicken broth, coconut milk, and fish sauce.

I loved the beautiful red color of the broth.  I used red curry paste because I already had an opened jar in the fridge and I'm glad I did because this added so much color to the dish. 

I covered the lid and brought everything to a boil.  Once the soup was boiling, I added the bell peppers and noodles and let the soup simmer, uncovered, until the noodles were al dente.  This just took a few minutes. 

I added the chicken to the soup and simmered until the chicken cooked through.  Because the chicken was sliced so thinly, this only took a few minutes.

I stirred in the lime juice and cilantro, and then the soup was ready to serve!

I was amazed at how easy this soup was to make!  I love a lot of Thai curry soups and until last night, I didn't realize how easy it was to make with just curry paste, coconut milk and chicken broth.  I also see a vegetarian version in my future by omitting the fish sauce and using vegetable broth and tofu in lieu of chicken broth and chicken. 

This recipe made a huge batch of soup so I put some aside for leftover this weekend and froze the rest.  I know this soup will be the perfect meal to thaw when I'm feeling lazy one weeknight and don't want to cook!

While I love the freedom of playing around in the kitchen by myself, I realized last night how much I miss cooking with Bret on a regular basis.  Tell me, do you like to cook alone or with others?  If you like cooking with others, who is your favorite cooking partner?