Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup

Well, the past couple meals posted have been brought to you by our broken oven. :(

Truly sad.  No fresh baking bread in this house recently!  (Waiting on a part... could be a while folks!) 

But, the silver lining here, I suppose, is that I was forced to think outside my bubble for dinner.  And still sticking to our strict grocery budget of not buying anything mid-week, I have a limited amount of ingredients that was to make our meals.  I have to be creative.    

This meal, in particular, was actually first inspired by potatoes.  I know, coconut curry is a far cry from potatoes.  But I remembered a while ago eating a soup, somewhere, that was curried and delicious, and it had big chunks of potato in it.  Kind of reminded me of samosas and how spicy and delicious they are.  So, there began the hunt for making a spicy, but sweet, soup/stew that I could incorporate potatoes into.  Then I remembered that I had this random can of lentils in the back of my cupboard that would go well with curry.  And from there, my mind went to chickpeas, kale, totally vegan-style soup, coconut milk yumminess, curry....  and I landed on this awesome combination!  I think it would be good with some carrot as well, actually, anything would be good added in - some broccoli maybe? Parsnip? Would all work with the flavours I think.  

Anyway, this soup turn out amazing!  So easy and so tasty, Lee and I both went back for seconds.  And, like most things vegan, it was  pretty quick to make up.  I'd say 20 minutes?  The longest thing to cook was the potatoes.  But that's because I used canned lentils... I suppose if it was dried lentils, you'd have to tack on an extra 10-20 minutes probably.  

The texture is slightly creamy because of the coconut milk.  If you don't like the creaminess, don't add as much coconut milk.  But you really should.  It's soooo good.  Creamy, spicy, sweet, yum.

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 tbsp or so of coconut oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
a hunk of ginger, minced (or just use powdered)
2 tbsp or so of each: curry powder, tomato paste
1 tbsp or so of each: cumin, hot pepper flakes, cilantro
dash or two of sea salt & pepper
3-4 medium/small potatoes, chopped (I left skins on)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1 can lentils, rinsed
3-4 bunches of kale, chopped

*optional add-in: frozen corn, peas, broccoli, fresh carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, etc!

What to do:

1. Over medium heat, melt coconut oil. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes or so until starting to soften.  Add spices and tomato paste. Stir for another few minutes. 


3. Add potatoes (and any other firm veggies that you're using).  Stir to coat in spices and cook for a couple minutes. 

4.  Add diced tomatoes and vegetable broth.  Stir to lift bottom pieces.  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Cook, on relatively high heat for about 7-9 minutes, or until potatoes and veggies start to soften. 

5. Add coconut milk, chick peas, lentils, and kale.  Stir, turn heat down to low and let simmer for 10 minutes or until ready to eat!!