Blog

30 Jul Summer Soup: Corn with Coconut Milk and Indian Spices

No matter how you eat, most people go to the supermarket and get the same ole’ stuff. Day after day, your meals look pretty much the same. This can become incredibly boring. It’s precisely why I joined my local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Don’t know all the great things about CSA’s? No worries, I wrote an entire post on the subject. If you don’t want to read it, I’ll summarize it for you. Basically, you pay your farmer in advance for the cost to produce your fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the season. Around June, you go weekly to the designated pick-up location to get your share of seasonal produce. My CSA includes fruits, vegetables, eggs and honey. As a member of this community, my children have the benefit of developing a relationship with the farmer who grows their food. He often tells us how the food is grown and also gives us tips for our patio garden at home. The best (and sometimes the worst) part of this experience is that you never know what you’re going to get. I’ve picked up things I’ve never seen before like garlic scapes, which I turned to soup and vegan pesto. Admittedly health nuts like me, get a rush from this experience. On the flip side, you must be quick on your feet, otherwise your ultra-fresh produce will wilt and die .

Every time I pick up my produce, I google the ingredients that I want to combine and then use the recipes I discover as inspiration for my own meals. Last week, I had the pleasure of receiving corn. I LOVE corn but I hardly eat it because most of it is genetically modified frankenfood. The organic variety tastes much better and is better for you. Note: googling corn brings up WAY too much stuff so I ditched my online search, and headed straight to my cookbooks.

Deborah Madison is a chef who specializes in vegetarian cooking. If you ever wanted to add more vegetables to your diet, I highly recommend any of her cookbooks. The book Vegetable Soups was recommended to me by good friend Lori and I’ve been hooked ever since. If you’re a lover of soups like me, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

Using corn as my main ingredient along with coconut milk and Indian spices created a refreshing summer soup that was easy to make and so very tasty. The entire house smelled of this deliciousness so it was easy to entice everyone to grab a bowl and enjoy this light meal. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did. There weren’t any leftovers in my house but note you can freeze it for a couple of weeks and enjoy later.

Happy Summer!

[cft format=0]

Summer Soup: Corn with Coconut Milk and Indian Spices

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 ears of corn, shucked
• 8 cilantro branches, plus 2 tablespoons chopped
• ½ cup diced red onions, trimmings reserved
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or unsalted butter
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• Pink Salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon quinoa flour
• 1.5 to 2 cups light coconut milk
• ½ teaspoon of coconut palm sugar
• 1-1 inch slice kombu
• Juice of ½ lime or more to taste
• Cilantro sprigs for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat 6 cups of water in a saucepan with the slice of kombu. Meanwhile, slice the corn off the cobs. Reverse your knife and run the dull edge down the cobs to press out the liquid, then set aside. Break the cobs and put them in the heating water with cilantro branches and any onion trimmings. Simmer for at least 15 to 25 minutes, then strain.
2. Melt the coconut oil (or butter) over medium heat. Add the onion, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then add all spices and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the quinoa flour, pour in coconut milk, and add the corn and the corn scrapings, the chopped cilantro, 1.5 cups of stock and 1 teaspoon of pink salt. If the soup is too thick, thin it with more water or stock. Add coconut palm sugar and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Squeeze in the lime juice and taste, add more salt if necessary. You can refrigerate the soup if you prefer to serve the soup chilled.
3. Serve the soup with sprigs of cilantro in each bowl. Enjoy!
4. Source: Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

3.3.3077