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Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup With Mock Noodles

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Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup

Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup
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Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup With Mock Noodles

My brothers girlfriend (Leslie) sent me a wonderful Thai Coconut Chicken Rice Soup recipe that I decided to make this week with some modifications. I wanted to take her recipe and make it into a vegetarian soup similar to Happy Planets Thai Coconut Soup that I tried a few weeks back.

I added a fair bit of veggies to replace the chicken and rice.  Note: this is a large batch of soup to have as left overs or even freeze. My decision to omit rice is because I find rice gets too mushy the next day or when freezing. I decided to use bamboo shoots as a substitute for rice – they were some mighty fine mock noodles I must say! Happy Planets Thai Soup gave me the ideal of adding bamboo shoots.

The Verdict of Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup? I think this soup should not be made without the red chile thai and lime juice. They both work together very well. The red thai gives it a superb heat (may be a tad too hot for some folks though) and the lime juice gives it a great acidic freshness. I love the bamboo shoots as a substitute for rice or noodles, they were almost noodle-like and thicker pieces than what Happy Planets soup had. This is also one soup that get’s better the next day – I had it 3 days in row for lunch and froze the rest for a later date.

Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
  • 3 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 carrot, julienned
  • 10 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1 red thai chile, finely chopped
  • 1 cup bamboo shoots, julienned
  • 1 can of baby corn, cut in thirds (if whole in can)
  • 1 tablespoon red curry paste
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, halved or quartered and bruised
  • 7 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 can light unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 1/2  cup fresh baby spinach
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon lime rind
  • 1/8 cup lime juice
  • 4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup Instructions:

  1. Saute onions, garlic, and ginger for 3 minutes.
  2. Add mushrooms, carrot, celery, red pepper, red thai chile, sauté for 3 more minutes.
  3. Add red curry paste, baby corn, bamboo shoots, lemongrass, vegetable broth, coconut milk. Bring to boil and turn down to simmer until vegetables are tender.
  4. Add baby spinach and cook until wilted.
  5. Add lime rind, lime juice, ground pepper.
  6. Ladle in bowls and garnish with cilantro and more pepper (if desired).

What I changed from the original recipe:

  • omitted chicken, rice, white sugar, snap peas
  • added 1/8 cup lemon juice
  • added lemon grass, bamboo shoots, red thai chile, baby corn, red curry paste, garlic
  • used low sodium vegetable broth instead of chicken broth
  • increased cilantro to 4 tablespoons

Soup Mistress Rating for Thai Coconut Vegetarian Soup:

Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4.5/5)
Presentation: (4.5/5) 
Taste: (4.5/5) 

Karmavore Serving Up Happy Planet Thai Coconut Soup – A Soup Review

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Karmavore Specialty Shop

Karmavore Specialty Shop
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Karmavore Vegan Specialty Shop serving up Happy Planet’s Thai Coconut Soup.

I have been making an effort to check out new places in New Westminster since I moved here less than a year ago. This past weekend, I decided to check out Karmavore, a Vegan specialty store on Columbia Street. I heard that it had a little vegan cafe in the basement and I wanted to try one of their vegan soups.

I was impressed when I walked downstairs towards the deli case and saw some very pretty looking vegan desserts. I was also very curious of how their raw pizza may taste like, but I quickly reminded myself that my mission was to try their soup. BTW I heard that their Black Forest Cake made by Sprout is a sure winner (I will have to come back and get it when my mom is visiting next month because Black Forest Cake is her favorite dessert).

I soon found out that Karmavore Deli did have a soup.  But, I was a tad disappointed that they did not have their own house made soup and they were serving up Happy Planet’s Thai Coconut Soup instead. I convinced myself that shouldn’t be such a home-made soup snob and just try it already.

Did you know that Happy Planet was founded by Gregor Robertson, Vancouver’s current Mayor? In 1994, he and Randal Ius pressed organic carrots from Gregor’s farm into bottles.

The Verdict of Happy Planet’s Thai Coconut Soup? The soup was very tasty yet light (a good thing to me) and on the spicy side (it had some yummy Thai chile). The amount of Thai chile was fine for me, but it may be too much heat for some people. There was some nice bits of tomato and all the ingredients tasted quite fresh – it was not a mushy premade soup surprisingly. I was also impressed that this soup was gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan with no preservatives. I never paid attention to this line of soups when I saw them at the grocery store. The best thing I loved about the soup was that it did not use noodles nor rice and had a lot of baby corns and bamboo shoots. I think the bamboo shoots were the superstar ingredient and can be a great substitute for noodles or rice in many Thai Coconut Soup recipes. I’ve been meaning to try a Thai Coconut Soup recipe that my brothers girlfriend shared with me -  I think I may use bamboo shoots in it as a recipe adjustment as well!

If I was to try recreate Happy Planets Thai Coconut Soup at home, I would try to slim down the sodium a tad. When I look at the nutrition facts it is saying that there is 550mg of sodium per 250ml – I think it is a little high. I would not add any sea salt and rinse the baby corns in running water (if they are canned, they may have added salt or sodium).

Happy Planets Thai Coconut Soup Ingredients: Water, coconut milk (coconut milk, water, guar gum), baby corn, onions, bamboo shoots, tomatoes, carrots, red curry paste, red peppers, green peppers, sunflower oil, galangal, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, sea salt, lemongrass, evaporated cane juice, kaffir lime leaves.

Soup Mistress Rating for Happy Planet Thai Coconut Soup:

Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4/5)
Presentation: (4/5) 
Taste: (4/5)