A thai soup with serious attitude

Tuesdays help start the week off well for me. This is the day where I begin with a back to back class of core stability and body combat. Whilst I am exercising I quite often (weirdly) plan food ideas as my mind is wandering. Today during the slow torture of core stability I planned this soup. It did change, however, by the time it was made. In fact it started off by being just a normal veg soup. I hate throwing food away so quite often I'll make soups with leftovers, using up all the remnants that are left in the fridge. Knowing that we had a fair amount of vegetables lurking in there, and bearing in mind the 'healthy' eating lifestyle we are currently enduring, I concocted the notion of a wholesome vegetable soup for lunch.

As I began making it, sweating onions, chopping celery and carrots I had an urge to create a bit of heat and decided to veer towards the asian soups I've made before, but with a thicker vegetable background. Thank the Lord, it worked. After all that excercise I was so hungry and this bad boy filled the hole nicely. A thai soup that kicks butt...nice.

I would suggest that you could use any veg you like for this. The joy of making soups is that you can use what you have. If you decide to make this soup, which I really hope you do, then please go with stuff you have in. It will work.

Ingredients

I onion, chopped

Assortment of vegetables. I used (1/3 head of brocolli, 3 pak choi, 2 carrots, 3 sticks celery, 1/6 white cabbage) chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

4cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped

1 thai red chilli deseeded and chopped

1 litre of chicken stock

200ml coconut milk

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon tamarind paste

1 teaspoon sugar (palm if you have it)

1 tablespoon lime juice

handful of spinach, beansprouts, chopped pak choi

chopped coriander

Start the soup off as you normally might, sweating the onion in a little oil with a pinch of salt to stop it browning too quickly. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and sweat for another 5 mins stirring regularly. Add the stock and cook for about 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.

Blitz until smooth.

Add the cocunut milk (fill the can with hot water, if using the last half, to get every bit out), fish sauce, turmeric, tamarind, sugar, lime juice and a handful of spinach. Blitz again. Check for seasoning and add more sugar or lime or fish sauce if you think it needs it.

Add the handful of beansprouts or pak choi. You could use other vegetables here. The idea is that they should be things that need little cooking, if any, and will add a little crunch and texture to the soup. You could use sugar snaps or spring onions. Whatever you fancy.

Put the soup back on the hob to reheat and let the vegetables begin to wilt. Add the chopped coriander and serve.