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Vietnamese Style Curry Soup and Thai Coconut Brown Rice

Posted by: Kara Ashe on: July 20th, 2010

Category: Recipes   Tags: bella mushroom, Curry, E.A.T. World, oyster mushroom, Tofu, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

I’m almost at my second week as a Californian, and am in love with the 99 Ranch Market across the street from where I’m staying. After a quick foray into the shop, where I picked up all sorts of delicious culinary odds and ends, I quickly realized I had the makings of an Asian… coconutty… curry dish. After a little Google action, I came up with this Vietnamese Style Curry Soup, a very close iteration of a recipe found on allrecipes.com. This dish goes wonderfully with a side of brown coconut rice, which serves as a creamy offset to the spicy curry soup.

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Vietnamese Style Curry Soup

Source: AllRecipes.com
Makes: Up to Five Servings
Takes: About Two Hours, Including Prep

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 inch piece fresh ginger root, thinly sliced – I used a peeler on to get thin, sheet like slices
• 1 stalk lemon grass, sliced down the middle and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 4 ½ tablespoons curry powder
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped diagonally
• 4 bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1 king oyster mushroom, sliced
• 1 pound tofu, dry fried and cut into bite-sized squares
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• about 1 tbs of lemon zest – I used a peeler to access the skin
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• salt to taste
• tamarind soy sauce to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pan – at least three inches deep – over medium heat

2. Sauté onion and shallots until soft and translucent

3. Stir in garlic, ginger, lemon grass and curry powder; cook for about 5 minutes to release the flavor of the curry

4. Add in green pepper, carrots, mushrooms and tofu

5. Add water and red pepper flakes, and bring to a boil

6. Stir in coconut milk, salt and tamarind soy sauce. Return to a boil

7. Add lemon zest and bay leaf, and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes

8. Allow soup to sit while you prepare the coconut rice. Serve with rice

Side note: The brown coconut rice tastes great mixed in with the curry soup!