Easy Tomato Coconut Curry Soup

How is the weather where you live? Today is day # 2 of crappy, rainy weather in NY. Here's a quick soup that feels like a big warm hug on a cold day.

Tomato Coconut Curry Soup

• 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced or grated
• 1 carrot, minced or grated
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (I used So Delicious, unsweetened)
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 handfuls baby spinach, roughly chopped

Heat oil over medium heat, cook onion 1 minute. Lower heat to medium low, cook onion 3 more minutes. Add garlic and carrot, I grated these both right into the pot. Add all of the spices, salt and sugar, cook about 2 minutes. It will look a little like a paste at this point. Turn the heat down all the way to low and add the coconut milk. Mix it all together, the color will be a beautiful golden yellow. Turn the heat up to medium again and add the can of tomatoes, plus 1/2 a can's worth of water. Bring it up to a gentle boil and toss in the spinach. Simmer just until the spinach is wilted and enjoy, perhaps with some crusty bread.

onion, garlic, carrot & spices 

add coconut milk...

add tomatoes, then spinach...

Yum.

Soup & Salad

It is frigid here. The cold temperatures have stirred up a craving for tomato soup. Luckily I had some canned tomatoes just waiting to be used.

Tomato & Leek Soup

• olive oil
• 2 28oz cans whole, peeled tomatoes
• 1 large leek, roughly chopped (white and most of the green part)
• dried Italian herbs, to taste
• onion powder, to taste
• garlic powder, to taste

First, chop and wash your leek very well, please. Heat a little oil in a soup pot, add leeks, saute until soft. Add tomatoes with all liquid from can. Then add about 1 can of water. (I filled each can about half way and swished it around to get the rest of the tomato-y goodness that got left behind.) Bring to a boil and break up the tomatoes a bit with a spatula. Turn down to a simmer, add Italian herbs, fresh cracked pepper, and salt if desired. I also added a few shakes of garlic powder and onion powder. Remove from heat and blend (in batches, if needed) in blender or food processor.

I love the combination of tomato soup and grilled cheese, but I wanted to ex-nay on the grilled cheese this time and replace it with a large salad. The problem with this was I wanted hot food, not cold salad. Fellow bloggers to the rescue. Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen just posted a Hot Skillet Salad. Using her recipe as a guideline, I made a hot salad for the side of my soup.

Hot Salad

• olive oil, optional
• 1/4-1/2 onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• crushed red pepper to taste
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into 1" cubes
• 1 bunch kale, torn
• 1bunch bok choy, chopped
• 1 bunch swiss chard, chopped
• 1 can beans (use what you have, I used Great Northern)

Over medium heat, I cooked the onion, garlic and crushed red pepper in a smidge of olive oil. After about 3 minutes, I added the sweet potato and cooked another 5 minutes or so. Then, added in all the greens and 1 cup water. Cover and cook about 5 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Add the beans, toss and serve. I seasoned with fresh cracked pepper, a dash of sea salt, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.