First “Official” Recipe of the Challenge: Tomato Coconut Curry Soup

Here we are in the first full week of January.  It is time to get this 50-soup challenge officially underway! I couldn’t wait to try the Tomato-Curry-Coconut Soup that I posted about earlier. As mentioned, this is my favorite restaurant soup. It is served regularly at Watecourse Foods in Denver,  an excellent vegetarian restaurant.  I grabbed the recipe from the Rocky Mt. News (here). A few initial cooking notes (I had to try it right away, even though I had eaten dinner only a few hours beforehand…).

·      I started out following this recipe precisely. I mean, I measured my ½ cup of chopped carrots (!!). Oh, I did ½ the recipe, but otherwise was precise with my measurements. Note: Although I always usually measure my spices, measuring chopped veggies and not just ‘eyeballing’ them is not my normal cooking styles.

·      I used what I think is a good curry powder. I bought it at this store in Breckenridge last spring. It is the Maharaja Blend, which they claim is their premium curry powder, as described here.

·      I didn’t have crushed tomatoes on hand, so instead I hand crushed petite diced canned tomatoes. Yep—betcha had a picture of me with my hands in the tomatoes… not really (I used a potato masher). 

·      I used light coconut milk (I had ½ a can on hand, which was just the amount I needed for ½ this recipe).

The verdict:

….It is good, but not as good as I recall from eating it at Watercourse. A few possible issues:

·      It may taste better tomorrow (it seems like the type of soup that holds out it’s full flavor for a day or two…no fair!)

·      I may have glorified my memories of this soup/I may have too high of expectations.

·      The chef may not have actually given the Rocky his true recipe (entirely possible, right?)

·      One of my very minor modifications (or the curry powder used) altered it.

The ‘problem’ (not really… it really is good!) is mostly with the texture. I remember a silky smooth and more brothy soup than my version. I don’t recall tasting the chunks of carrots/celery (though the slight chunks of tomato and cabbage seem familiar). My version is more of a stew, with carrots and celery that you can make out fairly easily- in both taste and texture. I may try immersion blending/pureeing just a portion of the batch (though note that the recipe specifically says not to do this…).

I’ll likely report back later in the week and/or with my next post if it changes as it ages, or if the ½ puree process makes a significant difference. Overall, I’m disappointed, but I’m sure that’s because of my unfairly high expectations for this soup. 

Finally, I'll add that this  soup is only 4 PP/serving, as calculated at 3 servings for my 1/2 batch. Wondering what PP stands for? Check out www.weightwatchers.com. I used to work for them, so feel bound by their request to not post actual PP values on external sites, so really basic abbreviations are how many bloggers get around this pesky rule. Note: I don't add "free" fruits/veggies to my recipes in the recipe builder, so this calculation only includes the olive oil and coconut milk.