Coconut Curry Tomato Soup Recipe

As the school year begins and I watch with horror as my schedule swells with obligations, I’m noticing that one of my favorite times of the day, cooking and eating a delicious meal, is being squeezed into oblivion. In an attempt to savor those moments, while saving money and eating healthily, my girlfriend and I have come up the idea of choosing a theme for each week’s meals. This week is Soups, Salads and Smoothies. To make this happen, we focused our grocery run on items that could be used in at least two out of those three dishes. Below is a recipe that combines the soup and salad items by including grains, nuts, lemon and an egg, toppings that can transform a soup or a salad into a complete meal.

Note that this dish calls for a blender or hand blender. If you do not have one, I would swap out the whole tomatoes for 1 can of tomato puree and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Also, I swapped out the brown rice for some farro and the toasted almond slices for toasted pine nuts. So feel free to let your creative juices flow, and I hope you love it as much as I did.

Coconut Curry Tomato Soup

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks (www.101cookbooks.com)

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, olive oil or coconut oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste
• 3 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
• 2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzanos)
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk

To serve, add any of the following that sound good to you: cooked brown rice, lemon wedges, toasted almond slices, pan-fried paneer, fresh thyme or oregano, or a poached egg.

In a large pot over medium heat melt the butter. Add the onions and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions really soften up—10 minutes or so. Not so much that they brown, just until they’re completely tender and unstructured.

Stir in the curry powder, coriander, cumin and chile flakes, and cook just until the spices are fragrant and toasty, stirring constantly at this point for just 30 seconds or so. Stir in the tomatoes, the juices from the cans and 6 cups/1.5 liters of water. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then puree with a hand blender until smooth. Here you can decide if you’d like your soup a bit thinner, in which case you can thin it with more water, or, if you like it thicker, continue to let it simmer, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust with more salt if necessary.

At this point, the soup base is ready and the world becomes your oyster. I highly recommend adding a dollop of the cream from the top of a can of coconut milk, a scoop of brown rice with a squeeze of lemon, some toasted almonds, and a jolt of fresh herbs. If you’re a purist, the soup is great served simply with a dollop of the coconut cream and a slice of warm bread.