Thai spinach soup

May 7, 2008 at 3:46 pm (Dark leafy greens, East and SE Asia, My brain, Quick weeknight recipe, soup, unrated)

I made a raw spinach pasta sauce for dinner the other night, but overestimated the amount of spinach I’d need.  I used the extra blended up spinach to make this thai-inspired soup.  I didn’t measure any of the ingredients so this is more of an idea than a recipe per se

• fresh spinach, cleaned, large stems removed, blended raw with water til its smooth
• coconut milk
• ginger (I put mine through a garlic press)
• garlic, pressed
• finely minced lemongrass (I used a store-bought almost-paste, that left no stringy bits in the soup)
• soy sauce
• ground coriander
• ground cumin
• salt
• something spicy, perhaps a fresh green chili with the seeds

The soup came out rich, but very tasty.  I used a little of the coconut milk to saute the ginger and garlic, then I added more lemongrass and a few spoonfuls of spinach, with the lemongrass, soy sauce, and dry spices.  When all the flavors were developed I added the fresh spinach and brought it carefully up to temperature.  If it gets too hot or cooks too long you’ll lose that bright green color.  I left mine sitting on the stove for a while and it turned a bit more brownish rather than the original bright green, but was still tasty.  The ginger and lemongrass and coconut milk were the strongest flavors.  If I had kaffir lime leaves, I would have added a few of those as well.