Quick and Easy Thai Coconut Soup with Mushrooms and Mixed Vegetables

Thai curries and soups are one of my favorite ways to enjoy vegetables and mushrooms — I love the light and fragrant spicy gingeriness of broths seasoned with Thai flavors. I also appreciate the simplicity of Thai vegetable curries and soups — if you have a jar of Thai curry paste on hand in your refrigerator, they're the easiest thing to put together.

After some chopping, this creamy mushroom and mixed vegetable soup simmered in a coconut milk broth is a snap to make and showcases the best of Thai flavors — with a little assist from Indian curry powder. If you're serving a small gathering, this soup will be gone in no time.

Vegetables and mushroom simmered in an easy, light and fragrant Thai spiced coconut milk curry broth

Ingredients:

• 1/2 oz (14 g) dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil or olive oil
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
• 1 red chili, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 2 1/4 cups coconut milk
• 1 cup vegetable stock, or more as desired
• 2 teaspoons tamari (soy) sauce
• 2/3 cup broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup snow peas, roughly chopped
• juice from 1 lime (2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:

• Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain, reserving the soaking water, and chop. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes until the onion begins to soften. Toss in the ginger, garlic and red chili and stir for another minute. Add the red curry paste and stir for another minute.
• Now pour in the coconut milk, vegetable stock, reserved mushroom soaking water and tamari. Add the broccoli and half of the mushrooms. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring often, until the vegetables are just tender — about 12 minutes.
• Stir in the curry powder, red pepper, snow peas and the rest of the mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. For a thicker soup, add more stock or reserved mushroom soaking liquid as desired.
• Remove from heat. Pour in the lime juice and season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
• Serve hot with cooked grain such as rice, quinoa or millet, and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley if desired.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

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