Chicken Coconut Soup

I love this soup so, so much. Just made it last week, and I want to make it again already. For a household of two, you get two very large servings each or three smaller ones.


INGREDIENTS

- three boneless skinless chicken breasts

- coconut or olive oil

- sesame oil

- 2-3 cups of mushrooms, chopped up smallish. Fresh shitake (with woody parts of stems removed) or oyster mushrooms work well. You can use other types of fresh mushrooms, of course, or if you want to go canned then I have tried straw mushrooms with some success as well.

- 2 cups of water, or potentially no-salt-added chicken broth (I keep meaning to try it with broth, but always forget in the heat of the moment).

- 2 tbsp of ginger. I use the pre-pureed stuff in a jar for simplicity.

- 4 tbsp of fish sauce

- 1/3 cup of lime juice

- 2 tsp of red chili paste (sambal oelek)

- 1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro. I like cilantro, so I tend to add lots. Also, running it through the food processor tends to be easier than trying to chop it by hand.

- 2-4 cups of baby bok choy, cut up small enough that you could probably shove the pieces in your mouth all at once. Otherwise it gets awkward later on.

- 2 cans of coconut milk. Something I've noticed since starting to make this recipe is that not all coconut milk is canned equal. Check the ingredients for one that is only coconut and water, without the stabilizers and thickeners and whatever else; the "Aroy-D" brand is good if you can find it. I find that the better quality cans give an overall better flavour and texture to the soup, though I suppose it may be all in my head... the cheaper ones definitely come out of the can a little greyer than the good stuff, which is not all that appealing.
I have also tried adding fresh thai chillis and lemongrass to this recipe, but I found both to be kind of fussy and didn't add very much in the way of final flavour, so they have subsequently been left out. Feel free to try those or other additions, though, if you want to do some recipe tweaking of your own!


INSTRUCTIONS

1) Begin with your chicken, cut into smallish pieces or thin strips. Toss it in a soup pot with some coconut or olive oil, a splash of sesame oil for flavour, and the mushrooms. It's important to let the mushrooms cook a bit until they start to release their water, or you could end up with a mouthful of chewy mushroom later on.

2) Let that sizzle for a while. Once the chicken is browned and the mushrooms are sweating, add the rest of the ingredients except for the coconut milk.

3) Heat that up and let it simmer for about ten minutes or until the bok choy is tender enough for your tastes.

4) Add the coconut milk and simmer for just a little while longer, basically just enough to heat it through and let the flavours start to mingle. 

5) Eat!

Sausage and Kale Soup

With the onset of fall, I am starting to turn once more towards soups and stews. This one is satisfyingly filling and spicy enough to warm you up at the end of a long day. Can easily be a meal unto itself.

This recipe provides my household of two with two very large servings each, or three smaller ones.

INGREDIENTS

- one typical grocery-store package of spicy italian sausage (~450 grams, I think). I usually get the Johnsonville hot italian sausage meat without the casing, since it's much easier to handle, but you can easily shuck some regular sausage and break it up. If all you have is mild italian, that'll work too, but you'll want to add in some chilli flakes or something to make up the difference.

- one medium onion, very finely diced. The food processor is your friend.

- four to six garlic cloves, also finely diced. Or, really, however much garlic as you like, because garlic is awesome.

- four cups (i.e., one tetra-pack) of no-sodium-added chicken or vegetable broth

- two or three large potatoes, cut into smallish pieces

- as much kale as you feel like adding, with large stems removed, chopped. I've made this with as little as one bunch and as much as three bunches, and the only real difference is that the latter ended up more like... kale stew, rather than soup. Both versions were delicious. Really, you're only limited by your own tastes and the size of your pot.

- one 250 mL carton of cream, I suggest 10-15% for a good, rich soup, but 5% will work in a pinch.

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Combine the diced onion and garlic with the sausage meat in a large pot, and cook until the onion is soft and the sausage is at least mostly done.

(Pre-cooking the onion is something you'll see very often in my recipes, because though I recognize onion as a valuable foundation for many dishes, I absolutely cannot stand crunching into one. So my onions tend to get pureed and cooked down very well.)

2) Stir in the broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and cook until the potatoes are just on the firm side of done. You can cook them until they're crumbly, too, if you like, but they pretty much just dissolve into the soup at that point.

3) Stir in your chopped kale and let it cook some more, until the leaves are wilted to your satisfaction.  Shouldn't take very long. If you're using large amounts of kale, you may have to add it in stages. Don't worry, it does reduce. Promise.

4) Finally, once everything else is done, add in the cream and continue cooking until everything is just heated through. You don't want to let it boil for any length of time at this point.

5) Done! Serve and enjoy.