Simple Thai Coconut Soup

I've started a new project that I'm hoping I can keep up with...ha.
I've gotten so tired of not having food at home, not having any ideas for what to make, skipping meals, or eating junk. Or worse, I'm throwing food away that I forgot about and it went bad, which I HATE.
I figured an easy solution that I could try would be to simplify what I'm buying, and that way I'm stocked up on just a few things. It's less to think about, shop for, and work with. So, I'm trying to use just about 6 primary ingredients (not including staples that I always have like tomatoes, bananas, lemons, garlic, ginger, etc).
So I picked out my round for the first week, and started it off with a really simple Thai coconut soup for dinner.
Simple is am important key word, because this isn't the most authentic soup in the world, but it's pretty darn good for an easy cheat. I couldn't find things like galangal, lemongrass, or thai chilis in Bozeman, Montana (hehe), so I hacked it with lemon peel, ginger, and serrano. Hey, it did the trick without hassle.

WATCH THE LIVE DEMO REPLAY BELOW!

This is a very easy recipe that you can have on the table in like 1.5 hours. I luv it. And 1 hour of that cook time is just passively simmering your broth!
The primary ingredients that I picked out for this week are...
- avocado
- sweet potato
- spinach
- papaya
​- mushroom
- tofu
- coconut milk
I don't include things like bananas, garlic, tomatoes, etc, since those are staples that I generally always keep in the house. I won't use all of these for each recipe, but it's mostly the pantry I'll be pulling from.
For this soup, you'll just need a handful of pretty basic and easy to find ingredients, and little bit of knife work.
I used chicken stock as my base (feel free to use veggie!), and tofu instead of meat in the soup. You can of course use chicken if you'd like!
Like I said, this isn't a fully authentic recipe, so don't criticize the lack of ethnic ingredients! I kind of wanted the challenge of creating the flavors with pretty common, basic ingredients.
I used a recipe straight from Thailand to base my recipe off of, out of a little booklet my sister picked up while visiting a Thai organic farm and cooking school last year.
It came out delicious and light, a perfect spring soup for that chilly breeze still in the air, topped with crisp and fresh cilantro, limes, and a little green onion
I made a big batch for a few days but you can of course make less for smaller portions.
I used rice noodles instead of rice for this dish because that's what I wanted, and I like to keep them in the fridge separate from the soup so they don't get soggy.
When I reheat, I get my noodles ready in a bowl so they can come to room temp while I bring my soup up to a simmer.
​Pour over noodles and garnish.

Simple Thai Coconut Soup Recipe
2 quarts chicken stock
2 shallots, sliced thin
1 cup fresh tomato, sliced thin (measure after slicing)
3" ginger, peeled and sliced thick
Peel from 1 lemon
10 stems of cilantro (more for garnish)
3 TB fish sauce
1.5 tsp sugar
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups mushroom, sliced
4 stems green onions, sliced (one for garnish)
1.5 cups tofu, diced (or chicken if desired)
1.5 cups carrots, shredded or sliced thin
1/2 - 1 hot chili (serrano, thai chili, etc) sliced thin...heat to your liking!
2 TB fresh lime juice
Precooked rice noodles (or rice)

Simmer chicken broth with shallot, tomato, ginger, lemon peel, green onion, and cilantro stems for about an hour to release flavors and cook down tomatoes.
I left the lemon peel and ginger in the soup, and just eat around it, but feel free to pick out the pieces. I leave them a little big so they are easy to spot and remove.
After your broth has simmered, stir in the fish sauce, sugar, veggies, chilis, and coconut milk.
Finish with fresh lime, and pour over noodles and tofu. You can heat it all together in a pot, but this will help keep the tofu and noodles from getting mushy and falling apart.
Enjoy!
Soup should keep for about 5 days.
Watch below to see the live demo I recorded for Instagram Stories! Demo starts around 5:30 if you want to skip that chat. Feel free to join me for the next one @simplecaresteph on Instagram.