Coconut Curry Winter Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 heaping tablespoons red curry paste
- 2 1/2 pounds root vegetables, roughly chopped (butternut, acorn, or kabocha squash, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, etc.)
- 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sriracha or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk
- Juice of 1 lime
- Optional: cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
For the stovetop:
- Warm oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and curry paste and continue cooking for 30 more seconds.
- Add vegetables, stock, soy sauce, sriracha or red pepper flakes, fish sauce, and cumin, stirring to scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Raise heat to high to bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to low and cover. Cook for 20 minutes or until all vegetables are tender enough to blend.
For the Instant Pot:
- Turn pot on Sauté mode and warm oil. Add onion and cook until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and curry paste and continue cooking for 30 more seconds. Turn Sauté mode off.
- Add vegetables, stock, soy sauce, sriracha or red pepper flakes, fish sauce, and cumin, stirring to scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Close lid and turn steam valve to Sealing. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure by turning the steam valve to Venting. Remove lid.
For both methods:
- Blend with an immersion blender, or allow the soup to cool for several minutes and transfer to a blender. Blend in coconut milk and lime juice. Taste. Veggies have varying levels of sweetness/earthiness, so you need to taste the soup and see if it needs more salt (add more soy sauce or fish sauce!), acid (lime juice!), or heat (add more red pepper flakes or even some sriracha).
- Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!
Notes
Cooking Notes
Can’t find red curry paste? Use whatever curry paste you can find (yellow is very common) but only add 1 tablespoon to start, then add more after you blend it and taste it. The spice level can vary widely so you don’t want to add too much! If you can’t find any curry paste at all, 1 tablespoon curry paste = 1 teaspoon curry powder. It’s not quite the same, but it’ll do!
If you like a really thick soup, only add 3 cups of the broth to start. Blend, check your thickness, then add more broth if needed.