Vegetarian Thai Red Curry Soup

I love food. Eating is genuinely one of my favourite activities in the day, and as such my day revolves around my meal times. But cooking on a weeknight can be time consuming, and isn’t always the top priority when you’ve got a to do list as long as your arm.

This vegetarian thai red curry noodle soup (or very saucy curry depending on your definition) has fast become one of my favourite quick dinners now the weather’s a bit colder. I thought I’d share the recipe here for anyone looking for a super tasty fast fix, between day and night jobs

INGREDIENTS (MAKES 3-4 SERVINGS)

3 tbsp thai red curry paste

2 cloves garlic

Half a thumb of fresh ginger

3-4 servings stick rice noodles

1 can (500ml) coconut milk (this can be low fat)

3 cups (700ml) stock (whatever kind you prefer, I usually use vegetable)

2 sweet potatoes – peeled and diced in to 1cm cubes

3 heads of pak choi (this is also good with spring greens, 2 ½ cups or so, if you can’t get pak choi)

Sliced spring onions and fresh coriander to garnish

THE MAKING BIT

• Chop up all of your veg. Garlic and Ginger should be finely chopped, or put through a crusher if you have one. The sweet potato should be in rough 1cm cubes, and the pak choi should be divided into leaf and stem, with the stems sliced up.
• Fry off the garlic and ginger in a little bit of oil, I like ground nut but use whatever you have as long as it doesn’t have a strong flavour.
• Then add the curry paste into the pan and heat through
• Add the liquids (coconut milk and stock) to the pan, with the sweet potato. Bring to the boil with the lid on.
• After 5 minutes or so, once the sweet potato has just begun to soften, add in the pak choi stems*
• Cook the noodles as per packet instructions in a separate pan, you could do it all in the same pan, but I usually struggle for space.
• Add the pak choi leaves just before serving so they wilt a little
• Serve in bowls with some (optional) sliced spring onion and fresh coriander

*If you’re going to batch cook this one to keep for later (as I so often do) I’d suggest taking your extra portions off just before you’d add in the pak choi, then adding it in chopped to the divided tubs. That way you avoid over cooking the pak choi when you reheat, and the noodles don’t go stodgy. When you reheat, just put the contents of the tub into a pan/the microwave, and cook the noodles.

What are your favourite quick warming winter recipes?

Natalie