Red Curry Soup with Rice and Kale

All too often, my curries, soups and sauces turn out either under or over-spiced. When following a recipe I invariably disregard the section about measuring spices, and try instead to employ my fine "palate" to discern flavor requirements. Curries are especially difficult to spice accurately without a recipe because they have such a delicate balance of sweet and spicy; each flavor playing upon each other.

Leave it to vegan chef extraordinaire Isa Chandra Moskowitz to offer up a recipe for a fool-proof curry. The following soup uses a prepared curry paste, so you only have to measure one thing. There are no enticing dry spices like cumin or cayenne to add more of, so you have a warming, flavorful stew that is perfectly seasoned.

Red Curry Soup with Rice and Kale

From The Post Punk Kitchen

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced medium

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

3/4 cups of basmati rice

6 cups of vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons red curry paste

1 bunch of purple kale, pulled from the stems and torn into bite size pieces

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks

1 can of lite coconut milk

1 tablespoon agave syrup

Juice of 1 lime

Directions

In a big soup pot, saute the onion with a pinch of salt until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and heat for a little longer. Add the rice, vegetable broth and salt. Bring to a boil.

Lower to simmer and stir in the curry paste. Add the kale and the sweet potatoes and cover, simmering until the potatoes are tender.

Add coconut milk, agave syrup and lime. Adjust salt and curry paste for your tastes.
Let sit for ten minutes to let the flavors meld together. Serve with chopped cilantro.

Many thanks to the Post Punk Kitchen (http://www.theppk.com/) for this delicious recipe!