Thai(ish) Indian(ish) Soup with Chicken and Mushrooms

After attending three academic conferences spread out over 9 days in London, I came home in need of serious nutrition. Having eaten some amazing Thai and Indian food while away, I had a combination of chickpeas, coriander, coconut milk, and ginger on my mind. These are all incorporated here along with my new favorite broth combination of coconut milk and fire-roasted tomatoes.

As a bit of an aside, P and I have basically turned into functional vegetarians. We prepare meat at home only about once a month, I would say, but do eat it while out. For some reason today I really wanted some chicken, but you could easily omit the meat and add more veggies for a nice vegan soup.

Ingredients

Glug of olive oil

1 large sweet yellow onion

5 cloves garlic

1 large bell pepper (I chose a mild yellow here)

3 cups vegetable broth

3 cans fire-roasted tomatoes (BPA and all. I wish I could find fire-roasted tomatoes in a glass jar)

2 cans chickpeas (much better to use dried, but I was all out)

1/2 can coconut milk (some places you can get this in a box now...avoid the BPA if you can)

1-2 chicken breasts, pre-cooked (optional, replace with more beans if you are veg)

4 large handfuls baby portabella mushrooms

1 lemon

Salt

Red pepper flakes

Black Pepper

Ginger

Coriander

Curry

To make

Pour a glug of olive oil into a large pot and turn the burner on to medium. Chop 1 large onion and 5 cloves garlic and add to your olive oil. Next, chop 1 large yellow pepper. Add this to the onion and garlic mixture. Season it all very liberally with salt, pepper, ginger, coriander, curry, and red pepper flakes. Now, add 3 or so cups of broth and let simmer while you chop 4 large handfuls of baby portabellas or another meaty mushroom into medium-sized pieces.

After adding mushrooms, stir in your fire-roasted tomatoes and chickpeas. Shred your chicken (I recommend cooking beforehand). Finally, pour 1/2 can coconut milk into the broth. Add more ginger, curry, coriander, salt and pepper to taste (I had to add a lot more!). Finally, squeeze the juice of one large lemon into the soup and stir. Let simmer for 30 minutes, then enjoy.

Considerations for food allergies & ethics: If you omit the chicken, this soup could be vegan. It is dairy free and gluten free, so long as you use a gluten free broth. Pacific brand is my brand of choice for broth.

Ed.: Photo by Sarah of her version of this soup - which, in her opinion, is a particularly amazing Katelyn concoction!