THAI FISH CHOWDER

My son and I fell in love all over again over this soup.  Scott is working a bit late tonight, so Faegan and I ate dinner early.  Things can get kinda frazzled and tensions can run high with a little two year old getting into EVERYTHING, but dinner saved us.  That is, once it was done being prepared and the two of us sat down together, with nothing else on our minds but pure sensual enjoyment.  We giggled and slurped and ate more, more, more of this soup as time slowed down and the setting sun's light shone through the window.

     You may have noticed I've been using Coconut Sugar quite a bit these days.  It is a sweetener made from the sap or nectar from the coconut palm tree flower.  It has a caramel sweetness that I like, and the best part is it has a glycemic index of 35 which is kind of low considering honey is a 55.  It will never, ever take the place of maple syrup, honey or brown rice syrup in my heart, but I like having options.  I especially like to use it in recipes that are tropical and use ingredients like coconut or mango. 

     This Thai soup was very simple and fairly quick to make thanks in part to the Green Curry Paste I had leftover and frozen from the other day.  I am pretty sure I could keep it in the fridge for quite a while, but freezing it ensures that it stays super fresh for a very long time.  Which is a good thing because how many Thai curries can I make before I get really sick of it? 

     Oh, and I bought a very swanky camera and lens today, the picture of this soup was taken with it, but I still haven't had a chance to practice, but soon, the tripod and fancy flash will be set up, and watch out!

THAI FISH CHOWDER

(adapted from REbar)

4 cups organic fish, vegetable or chicken stock

4 cups filtered water

1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and chopped

1/4 cup fresh organic ginger, grated

4 cloves organic garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp fresh green curry paste (http://prasada-eatingisdivine.blogspot.com/2010/03/thai-temptations.html) 

3 Tbsp coconut sugar (or honey)

3 Tbsp organic tamari

juice of 1 juicy lime

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 can organic coconut milk

1/4 pack brown rice noodles (I used vermicelli)

1/2 pack PC organic raw unpeeled shrimp

1 fillet hook and line haddock

4 dried kaffir lime leaves

1 carrot, sliced

1 bunch organic green onion

1/2 cup organic cilantro chopped

1/4 cup fresh organic mint leaves, minced

Method:  In a large soup pot, heat the stock and water and add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic.  Let simmer for about 5 minutes then strain the stock and stir in the curry paste, sugar, tamari, fish sauce, lime juice and coconut milk into the broth.  Allow the broth to simmer and then add the noodles, fish, carrots and lime leaves and cook until the noodles are tender.  Remove from heat, stir in the greens and serve!