Thai Soup

Gluten Free Thai Soup with Rice Noodles

Both my husband and I love Thai food. I love the ginger, coconut milk and lemony flavours. One of our favourite restaurants in Saskatoon is Thai (Keo's). We like it so much that I sometimes try to recreate their menu items. To this point my (re)creations have been unsatisfactory and rather unidentifiable. My tamarind is too sour (maybe I used too much?), I don't have any lemon grass, I have no idea what kind of curry they use and where to get it, and I am receiving most of my Thai cooking classes from Google. So I gave up trying to recreate, and instead started to create. Using my new found knowledge of basic Thai flavours (yes, from Google), I got cooking. (I really doubt that I had this all planned out like I'm making it sound, and I'm pretty sure this recipe was more of a delicious accident than anything, but I'll still take the credit!)
This delightful Thai soup recipe is what I came up with. My husband literally jumps for joy when I announce I am making it for supper.It's a little labour intensive with all the julienning of the veggies, but it's totally worth it. The secret (Thai) ingredients are fresh ginger, Asian fish sauce (which sounds and kind of smells disgusting, but trust me, it adds the perfect flavour), peanut butter, and lime or lemon juice (I think Thai food usually uses lemon grass, but I don't really know where to get it). You can substitute different vegetables based on what you like and what you have on hand.

This is what I had on hand

I hope you love this soup as much as we do!

(serves 3-4 people)
Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Cloves Fresh Garlic, minced
1 Small Onion, minced
1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated or minced
1/2 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp Asian Fish Sauce (you could probably sub soy sauce but it wouldn't be the same)
2 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
3/4 cup Water
2 Carrots, julienned
1 cup Bean Sprouts (or Cabbage, julienned)
1/2 Red Pepper, julienned
2 tsp Chili Flakes
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp Lime Zest (optional)
Salt to taste
1-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs, chopped into bite sized pieces (Tofu works good here too)
3-4 cups Cooked Thin Rice Noodles

Garnishes:
  Cilantro
  Chopped Peanuts

get your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking

Directions

Cook rice noodles according to package directions and divide between 3 or 4 bowls.

Heat oil on medium heat in a large pot.
Saute minced onions until translucent.
Add garlic, ginger and pepper. Saute for another minute or two.
Add chicken stock, coconut milk, fish sauce and water. Bring to a boil.
Bring soup down to a simmer and add carrots, chili flakes, chicken. Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Add cabbage or bean sprouts, red pepper and peanut butter. Let cook for another 3 minutes.
Add lime juice and zest (if using). Salt to taste.

Serve soup over cooked rice noodles.
Garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.

onions, garlic, ginger and pepper

coconut milk and chicken stock added

Add chicken and firmer veggies

cover and simmer for 5-7 mins

serve over rice noodles and garnish with peanuts and cilantro... i didn't have any :(