{"id":660,"date":"2010-01-31T21:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T21:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=660"},"modified":"2024-07-24T20:16:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T20:16:37","slug":"thai-coconut-shrimp-or-tofu-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/thai-coconut-shrimp-or-tofu-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Thai Coconut Shrimp (or Tofu) Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/em> <\/em> Another version of Thai Coconut Soup, with the cilantro chopped fresh and sprinkled on at the end! <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday’s post <\/a>described my big ski adventure to a hut deep in the Colorado mountains.\u00a0 Being light years from the nearest grocery didn’t keep us from enjoying great cuisine, from potato-broccoli fondue to a hash brown scramble and apple crisp, to the Thai Coconut Soup that provoked yesterday’s post<\/a> on the “Good to Better Continuum.”\u00a0\u00a0 In case you’re now hankering for Thai cuisine, here’s my recipe for a shrimp version, although tofu can easily be subbed for a vegetarian take<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Thai Coconut Shrimp (or Tofu) Soup\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Serves 4<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • 1 oz.\u00a0 mung bean threads (See below for more info)<\/li>\n
  • 2 cups boiling water<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Place noodles in a small mixing bowl and cover with boiling water.\u00a0 Set aside for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 After noodles have softened, drain in colander, then use kitchen shears to cut roughly into 2-3\u201d lengths.\u00a0\u00a0 Reserve.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • 1 Tbsp. canola or safflower oil<\/li>\n
    • 2 lrg. carrots, julienned and chopped into 2-3\u201d lengths (about 2 cups)<\/li>\n
    • 4 green onions, sliced \u00bd\u201d thick (about 1 cup) or 2 lrg. leeks, white and light green parts, diced to 1\/2″ (about 2 cups)<\/li>\n
    • 1-2 lrg. cloves garlic, minced (or 1 1\/2 tsp. bottled minced garlic)<\/li>\n
    • 1 1\/2 tsp. grated fresh or bottled ginger<\/li>\n
    • \u00bc to \u00bd tsp. chili pepper flakes, to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Heat oil in a large soup pan until fairly hot.\u00a0 Add carrots,onions or leeks, garlic, ginger and chili flakes, in that order, saut\u00e9ing about 5 minutes total.<\/p>\n

        \n
      • 1 6-oz. can regular, not lite, coconut milk<\/li>\n
      • 1 qt. (4 cups) chicken broth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Add to vegetable mixture and simmer just 5 more minutes, until carrots and leeks are crisp tender but still vibrantly colored.<\/p>\n

          \n
        • 1-2 Tbsp. fish sauce, to taste<\/li>\n
        • 7 oz. baby shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tails removed (or 8 oz. firm tofu, diced into \u00bd\u201d cubes)<\/li>\n
        • 1-2 tsp. toasted sesame oil<\/li>\n
        • 2-4 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice, to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Add fish sauce and shrimp (or tofu) to soup along with drained and cut mung bean threads.\u00a0 Simmer just 2-3 minutes more, until shrimp turns pink and opaque (or tofu is heated through).\u00a0 Remove from heat immediately and stir in sesame oil and lime juice, to taste.\u00a0 Serve and garnish, as desired, with:<\/p>\n

            \n
          • Chopped cilantro (optional)<\/li>\n
          • Thin lime wedges (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Notes<\/span><\/h3>\n

            Mung Bean Threads? <\/strong><\/span>Way cool noodles made out of mung beans, so they’re ok for Gluten-Free folks.\u00a0 But kids really like them, too, because they’re so very kid-like.\u00a0 They start out as a wad of crackly white sticks but after just 10 minutes of soaking in boiled water, presto, they become soft, gelatinous noodles, great in Asian style soups, stir fries and lettuce wraps.\u00a0 I cut them for better mouth manageability, but they can be left long for slurping.<\/p>\n

            Be Prepared for Speed<\/strong><\/span> <\/span> This recipe is truly fast, so fast, in fact, that it\u2019s advisable to have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go before beginning to cook.\u00a0 Also have any side dishes either already, or almost all prepared.\u00a0 It’s important that the soup not get overcooked or it will lose color and freshness.<\/p>\n

            Super Sides <\/span><\/strong>Speaking of side dishes, there are many nice accompaniments for this all-weather dish, depending upon when you decide to make it:<\/p>\n

              \n
            • Spinach salad with fresh berries and curry vinaigrette<\/li>\n
            • Steamed artichokes<\/li>\n
            • Brown basmati rice<\/li>\n
            • Plate of cucumbers and orange segments or cantaloupe balls<\/li>\n
            • Roasted winter squash:\u00a0 acorn, butternut, delicata, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Make It Your Way <\/strong><\/span>A great thing about cooking is making a recipe exactly as you like.\u00a0 There are three distinct flavors in this recipe that can be adjusted up or down to suit your tastes:<\/p>\n

                \n
              • Salty:\u00a0 Fish sauce<\/li>\n
              • Sour:\u00a0 Lime juice<\/li>\n
              • Hot:\u00a0 Chili pepper flakes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Words to the wise:\u00a0 start small with seasonings, since you can always add more but can\u2019t take away!\u00a0 You might even experiment with a small amount in a bowl before adding it to the entire pot of soup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                An very quick version of a creamy Thai soup, vegetarian or not, as desired. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[204,244,369,395,522,577,588,618],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recipes","category-uncategorized","tag-fish-sauce","tag-ginger","tag-lime-juice","tag-mung-bean-threads","tag-shrimp","tag-thai-coconut-soup","tag-tofu","tag-vegetarian","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions\/2557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}