My apartment smelled fantastic Saturday night, which is quite the accomplishment for a smallish apartment currently housing 2 cats, 3 twenty-something men, and me. So what defeated the two-fold powers of cat dander and man-shoe? Curried Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup. Wisconsin has begun to seriously threaten the start of winter, which has put me in the mood for chicken noodle soup. While the traditional chicken noodle is wonderful and nostalgic, I wanted to try a version that was a bit more updated. I found the recipe on epicurious and made a few changes based on what I had on hand.
Here's what I used:
The original recipe called for curry powder, but I had a small jar of green curry paste that needed to be used, so I replaced the 4 T of curry powder with the remains of the jar, which ended up being about 2 heaping tablespoons. I would recommend either sticking with the recipe here or using the full 4 tablespoons. The paste lends a wonderful flavor but is not strong enough to cut the sweet of the coconut milk.
The only other adjustment that I would recommend making to the posted recipe is the choice of noodle. The rice noodle is great in theory, but in my opinion just doesn't soften enough to be in a soup. After a first bowl with rice noodles, I switched to udon, which I think works much better.
Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons curry powder (or curry paste)
3 cups chicken broth
Two 14 oz. cans unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup water
2 stalks lemongrass, outer leaves discarded, 5" of lower stalk minced
Ten 1/8" thick slices of peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 whole chicken breast, with skin and bones
1/2 pound udon noodles
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander
Prep:
In a heavy saucepan cook the garlic in the vegetable oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is fragrant, add the curry powder, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, the coconut milk, the water, the lemongrass, the gingerroot, and the peppercorns and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the chicken and poach it at a bare simmer for 20 minutes, or until it is cooked through. Transfer the chicken with a slotted spoon to a bowl and let it cool, keeping the poaching mixture warm.
While the chicken is cooling, in a large bowl soak the noodles in warm water to cover for 5 minutes, drain them, and in a large saucepan of salted boiling water cook them for 5 minutes. Drain the noodles in a colander, rinse them under cold water, and drain them well.
Discard the skin and bones from the chicken, shred the meat, and stir it into the poaching mixture with the lime juice and the fish sauce. Cook the soup over moderate heat, stirring, until it is hot, divide the noodles among 6 to 8 bowls, and ladle the soup over them. Sprinkle the soup with the coriander and drizzle it with the chili oil.
I will definitely be making this again, with the adjustments I've mentioned. This soup has all the comfort of a traditional chicken noodle, but with a great new set of flavors and a warming kick from the curry.
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Sounds great; can't go wrong w/ curry and coconut. Tru to form, I'll probably add veggies when I make it!
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