I’ve been posting warm weather food for a few weeks and them wham! The rain is back. Last night PDX was closed due to a thunderstorm (we never have thunderstorms) and my husband was diverted to Seattle and landed and then was flown back to PDX within a few hours. Thunderstorms do to Portland what snow does. It shuts us down if even temporarily. Those tough folks in the cold and humid parts of the world? They deal with this inclement weather all the time and just roll with it.
So I’m just rolling with the weather here and posting a soup recipe I got from a New Seasons nutritionist, Leah Kriewall, in a packet of ‘anti-inflammatory’ recipes. Gotta love that – we all need little anti-inflaming these days. I went to a ‘Gluten Free Living’ class at New Seasons last week. Leah was very informative, spirited and offered a great class on a gluten free life. And I loved that she offered to email this packet of recipes I’m putting in my back pocket and using again. The class was FREE and we got a coupon for 10% off a grocery trip – sweet! These classes are a great perk for those in the Portland area.
This soup was really quite yummy…for a second, when I tasted it, I thought I was sitting in one of those trendy lunch joints on NW 23rd, but then I remembered I’d just made this soup myself in my own kitchen in about 45 minutes start to finish. It was really easy and relatively quick the way soups go. You could make this vegetarian by adding vegetable broth instead of chicken. In fact the original recipe called for vegetable broth and that’s probably a big factor in the anti-inflammatory rating. I prefer the taste of chicken broth in a soup. I must say that I got a bit overzealous on the spices and added 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. This was a zingy soup but the flavor great. I’m leaving that as an option. I wouldn’t recommend the red pepper flakes if you’re feeding young kids. The garlic, curry and ginger will be great on it’s own. So enjoy a nice soup for your inclement weather days.
Coconut Curry Yam Soup
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 3 large yams, peeled and chopped
- 1 quart chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- option for added spice – 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- toppings – green onions and dollop of sour cream
Saute the chopped onions with the carrots and coconut oil in a medium sized stock pot. When the onions are translucent and the carrots somewhat soft, add the curry powder (red pepper flakes as option) and the ginger. Let cook a few more moments, then add yams and chicken stock (or vegetable stock). Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the yams are softened (20 minutes or so). Remove the soup from the heat, and add the coconut milk. With a hand blender purée until smooth. Or transfer soup to a standard blender and purée until smooth. Serves 4-6. Top with green onions and dollop of sour cream.
Source: Adapted from New Seasons, Leah Kriewell, Nutritionist