Carrot Curried Shrimp Soup with Noodles
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
6 Carrots (peeled and diced)
1/2 large Yellow Onion (diced)
2-4 cloves Garlic (minced)
2 Tbsp Red Curry Paste
1 Tbsp Corriander
4 cups Chicken Broth
2 lbs Shrimp (deveined) - I used 1 pound jumbo and 1 pound small
1 can Coconut Milk (approx. 14 oz.)
Salt
Pepper
Curry Powder
1 package Rice Noodles (I used Pad Thai noodles)
Garnishes:
Cilantro
Chives/Green Onion
Sriracha
Preparation:
Ensure all your shrimp is deveined (I devein under the belly as well as back) and sitting in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook them. Dice and mince vegetables for soup and garnish; the smaller you dice the vegetables, the quicker the soup cooks. Shake up your can of coconut milk; this ensures the fat mixes in. If you open your can of coconut milk and the contents are not well mixed, do NOT worry. The soup will still turn out just fine (this is experience speaking :). Have your chicken broth measured out and measuring spoons standing by!
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or wide cooking pot. Add your diced onion; stirring them often until soft/translucent. (Approximately 5 minutes) Add carrots. Continue to stir occasionally (to ensure vegetables do not burn) until onion is golden brown. Add garlic and red curry paste. Allow to cook until fragrant. Season with coriander, salt and pepper (to taste). (About a tablespoon each) Add your chicken stock and bring entire pot to a boil. Reduce to low and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until carrots are soft.
Once your carrots are soft, heat a second pot of water. Fill this pot with enough water to cover your rice noodles. Your noodles are going to soak while you cook your shrimp.
While the water is heating up, begin to puree your carrot soup. If you have an immersion blender this will be all the easier. If you don't, then use a blender (as I did). Remember to go in batches and allow the soup to sit for a bit so it does not create an explosion of super hot soup! If you have a special container for your soup, place the soup there. Just remember you will be adding noodles and shrimp to it very soon. So make sure it is large enough!
Add noodles to the boiling water. Turn the water off. Allow noodles to soak while you are cooking the shrimp. (Approximately ten minutes)
Place another two to four tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet. As soon as you turn on the heat, begin placing your shrimp into the skillet. (Unless you have a massive skillet, this will take a couple go arounds.) Begin to season your shrimp with pepper, salt, and curry powder (yellow). (And please, wash your hands before you do so; if you are touching your shrimp.) Once the shrimp begin to turn pink, flip them over and season the other side. Remember: shrimp are not large chunks of meat, so try not to over do it. Repeat these steps until all your shrimp has been seasoned and cooked. Once all the shrimp has been cooked, you may throw all two pounds into the skillet for a minute or two. (This will heat up the shrimp you started with as well as ensure everything is cooked.
Place the shrimp in with your pureed carrot soup. Drain noodles and add them to the soup.
Serve in bowls and top with desired garnishes Enjoy!
Backstory/Credit:
My dear friend texted me a photo of the original recipe stating she thought of me when she saw it. (We frequent "our" Thai restaurant together; in fact, I'm the reason she moved from HER Thai restaurant to "OUR" Thai restaurant. (It use to be MY Thai restaurant (the staff, owners, etc. knew my family on sight), but she started going more frequently and took over; so it's really her NEW Thai restaurant now, but I'd like to think she'd share credit with me. ;) Back to cooking..))
I knew I had all the ingredients for the recipe, but needed to sell "Carrot Soup" to my husband. My husband LOVES all food Asian, but I was 5 million percent sure I couldn't sell "Carrot Soup" just because it had "Curried Shrimp" in it. I decided if I added rice noodles and made the soup more of a sauce, he'd be all in.
That said, this would be an AMAZING soup by itself, with or without the shrimp. It does NOT taste sweet as my husband feared and we both wished there was more soup to it. That and leftovers. There were ZERO leftovers! The kids ate up every bite and had seconds. My husband had thirds. I was VERY content with one (LARGE) serving.
If I could give further credit to the owner of the above recipe, I would. This is all I have and what I went off of to create my dish. I honestly do not even know where my friend was at when she sent me the photo or what she was reading. And I didn't ask. Not because I don't want to give credit, but because I have a stupid phone (literally, it is not a smart phone, it is dumb) and it took longer than I'd like to admit to even VIEW the recipe. So to whom the credit goes, THANK YOU for publicly sharing this AMAZING and DELICIOUS recipe of yours!
[Random "Fact": Why no "Cocount" in my title; if there is "curry" it is assumed to have coconut in it. At least according to my husband who studied Thai. Not in high school and not in college, but at the Defense Language Institute by Thai instructors.]
