Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

I love Asian food. Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese. There are some I haven't tried yet, like Malaysian or Laotian. I did see Anthony Bourdain visit Laos once on No Reservations and they were eating tiny swallows (the bird) whole, so I'm not sure if Laotian will be my thing. But I love the rest of Asia, as far as I know. It's the brightness of the flavors that appeals to me - ginger, cilantro, chilies, a squeeze of lime or a sprinkling of mint. And the whole one bowl concept, with many components like chewy noodles, sweet and spicy broth or sauce, lots of vegetables and just enough meat. Yum.

So tonight I tried one of the many Thai soup recipes I saved from a magazine ( Cooking Light). It's not authentic, but when it tastes this good, I don't really care. It had all the right stuff and it was warming and delicious. Here's my adaptation - it may look like a lot of ingredients, but you probably have most of them in your pantry. If not, stock up because you'll want to make this a lot!

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

4 cups water

3 cups fresh spinach leaves

1 cup snowpeas, cut in half crosswise

1 package rice noodles (5 3/4 oz.), wide or thin*

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots

2 tsps. red curry paste*

1 1/ 2 tsps. curry powder

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 can light coconut milk

2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (I used the meat from a supermarket rotisserie chicken)

1/2 cup chopped scallions

2 Tbsps. sugar

2 Tbsps. fish sauce*

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 limes, cut into wedges

1. In a large saucepan, bring 4 cups water to boil. Add spinach and snow peas; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Add noodles to saucepan; cook 3 minutes, until softened. Drain and add noodles to vegetable mixture.
2. Heat canola oil in pan. Add shallots, curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, coriander and garlic. Saute one minute, stirring constantly.
3. Add chicken broth to pan and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add chicken, scallions, sugar and fish sauce. Cook for 2 minutes. Add vegetable/noodle mix to broth. Stir in cilantro.
5. Serve, squeezing a lime wedge into each bowl. (Don't skip this - it really makes a difference!)

* You can find these items in the Asian section of most supermarkets.