Tom Kha Soup (with Rice Noodles)

Tom Kha soup, also known as the most delicious, creamy, flavor-explosive soup known to man.

Know stories this time, let's just get down to business:

You will need:

**This recipe is completely gluten free and vegan EXCEPT** for the fish sauce, which you can leave out and replace with tamari, if you decide. However if you are ok with ingesting animal products, I highly recommend the very pungent saltiness of fish sauce over the tamari, it really is much fuller flavor.

The broth:

32 ounces of veggie stock

2 fifteen ounce cans of organic coconut milk (full fat)

2 lemongrass chunks as long as your middle finger and as fat as your thumb, cut into rounds and crushed with the butt of your knife

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into chunky pieces (you don't have to skin it)

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into chunky pieces

5-7 kaffir lime leaves (these are sometimes hard to find, either fresh in the herb section or dry, when I do find them I buy bulk and keep them in my freezer)**if you can't find them, quarter a whole lime as a replacement in addition to the other lime for the broth

1/2 of a lime, cut into chunks, skin on

2 butts of yellow onion (the useless part of the onion that you use for broth)

1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar

1 heaping tablespoon of chili-garlic paste or srirachi

1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce (**or tamari)

4-6 cremini or button mushrooms, washed and cut into thin half moons

3 green onions, chopped (both white and green part)

Toppings:

7 ounces of firm tofu, cut into bite-sized slices

1 lb of rice noodles

1/3 of a red cabbage, sliced in thin shavings

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

8 baby tomatoes, quartered

Garnish:

1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped

wedges of lime

First, prep your broth flavorings. You really want to bruise and smash the lemongrass and the ginger with the butt of your knife to help release the flavor.

In your soup pot, add a tablespoon of coconut oil on medium heat and lightly saute all of the broth ingredients to release the flavor-- about 3 minutes. Add the veggie stock and the coconut milk. Cover the pot and let the ingredients simmer  on medium low in the liquid for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

While the broth is getting flavorful, simmering away, fry the tofu in coconut oil. I spiced mine with garlic salt, cayenne and turmeric. Set aside once they are complete.

At this point, start the water boiling in a separate pot to cook the rice noodles for the soup.

After the broth has simmered for at least 45 minutes, strain the chunks out of it with a strainer or with a colander, and then return the liquid back to the stove. Over medium low heat, add the brown sugar, the chili sauce (or srirachi) and the fish sauce (or tamari).

Allow the broth to continue to simmer on low, meanwhile prep all of your veggies (if they aren't already).

And add your rice pasta to the boiling water, cook 6-8 minutes, until soft but still chewy.

Add the chopped mushrooms and green onions to the broth to let them get soft and soak up the flavor of the soup, they need to be in the broth on medium-low heat for about  7-10 minutes to get to that
"perfectly delicate" texture.

Finish prepping whatever is left (you'll want tomatoes, cilantro, lime wedges, red cabbage and bean sprouts)

Drain your rice noodles:

Now start building your soup! Noodles, veggies, tofu, broth, topped with bean sprouts, tomatoes, cilantro and a wedge of lime squeezed over the whole thing.

When AJ took this photo, the kitchen smelled so much of mouth-watering lemongrass coconuty-ness, and I said to him a moment before he snapped the shot "Can we just eat now, please?"

Enjoy!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo

Buffalo and Vegetable Chili

 Hello everyone!

Though I am sharing these recipes with you guys, I am simultaneously teaching AJ how to cook. He requested to learn how to make chili, since it is "man food." So for this particular preparation, AJ actually followed my verbal cues and made it with his own hands and took the pictures!

You will need:

1 medium onion, diced

1 lb of ground buffalo (or turkey or beef or elk, or whatever you like)

3 cloves of minced garlic

2 cups of cooked anasazi beans (or pinto, kidney, black, chili beans--- any combination, I had just made these in my slow cooker for tacos and had some leftover)

Chili powder

Cumin

Ground Cumin

Coriander

Celery or Garlic Salt

Salt

Pepper

1 zucchini, diced

2 green bell peppers, diced

1 32 oz. can of organic whole, peeled tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste 

Beef broth, veggie broth or water

Saute the onions in olive oil or grapeseed oil until translucent in a soup pot, over medium heat. Add the ground meat and begin to brown, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn't stick (it is more likely to stick if it is a lean meat especially). Add the garlic, and spices (I don't measure, hardly ever, I am trying to take note as I write this blog, but truly, just FEEL the ingredients, and season by feeling. With salt, when in doubt always put less in than you think or feel and you can add more as you go, but with chili especially, I give you permission to go hog-wild with your intuitive cook and season as it feels right with the suggested seasons above).

Mix in all seasonings and let the meat brown almost all of the way through (no pink) and add the diced vegetables. You can add a few tablespoons of stock or water to keep the ingredients from sticking as they cook. Stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until they begin to soften.

Add the beans. I also had AJ throw in more cumin at this point because we felt like it.

Stir and add a few more tablespoons of stock or water to keep everything lubricated and unstuck form the bottom of the pot. 

Without waiting for the beans to heat up, add your whole tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir thoroughly, while paying special attention to smashing the chunks of tomato with our spoon. Check the consistency of the chili, if you think it needs to have more liquid add more stock or water at this point as well.

 Let it simmer, covered for at least 30 minutes, but up to a few hours if you have time, it will only taste better the longer it cooks altogether. Taste freely as it simmers and add more seasoning if you find it necessary.

(sidenote: AJ had a lot of fun making this)