Red Curry Coconut Milk Soup

If I could eat thai food everyday, I would be a happy gal. It's spicy, sweet, citrusy and fresh. What more could you want? While of course pad thai is my go-to, red curry is a close second. It's a dish I often make for dinner because it's so easy. Curry paste, coconut milk, chicken broth, other stuff...and bam! Deliciousness.

Last night I was craving thai and wanted to make something new, but not too complex. So I did a little recipe hunting and decided to make a coconut milk, red curry soup! It was the right choice.

When making a new dish, I usually look at several recipes and then change about 80% of it. Haha. This especially goes for soup, because I keep adding spices and stuff as I go along. This leads to some delicious soup, but it's hard to share the recipe because I usually don't keep track of what I throw in the pot. But this time I kept track of what I used thanks to my handy-dandy iPhone.

Red Curry Coconut Milk Soup
2 tbs red curry paste
1 onion, diced.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk (light or regular, I used regular)
1 large can (49 oz) chicken broth
Approx. 1 cup chicken, shredded or cubed
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 cups fresh green beans, halved
1 green or red pepper, sliced
4 stalks lemon grass, bruised
Udon noodles
1 tbs fish sauce
Juice from 1/2 of a lime
*Red pepper flakes & Sriracha (optional)
*Bean sprouts and cilantro (garnish, optional)

1. In a large pot, saute onion. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic.
2. Add red curry paste and cook for about a minute, stirring occasionally. Don't let burn!
3. Add brown sugar, let cook for about 30 seconds.
4. Add chicken broth, coconut milk and red pepper flakes and Sriracha (if desired). Bring to a slow boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Add green beans, carrots, green/red pepper and chicken. Let cook for about 5 minutes.
6. Add fish sauce, and bruised lemon grass. Cover and let cook for 5 mins.
7. Taste, add salt if needed. Add lemon juice.
8. Cook udon noodles according to package. I used round noodles, cooked for 8 minutes then rinsed with cold water and set aside.*
9. If veggies are fully cooked, turn heat off and eat! Place noodles in bowl, add soup and top with chopped cilantro and bean sprouts.

*When storing leftovers, I put noodles in a plastic bag then into the fridge. I didn't combine with soup because I didn't want them to get too soft.