Recipe: Thai Shrimp Soup

This soup is warm, spicy, and something new to try. It’s loaded with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and mixed veggies of your choice, but coconut milk is the true star of this dish.
Coconut has risen in popularity in recent years due to its unique type of saturated fat. Saturated fat can raise bad, LDL cholesterol, and lower good, HDL cholesterol. Most forms of saturated fat are made up of long chains, but coconut oil is made up of medium chains. These medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) are thought to break down in the body faster than long chains and may potentially influence cholesterol levels differently than other types of saturated fat. While this type of saturated fat needs further research, we do know coconut milk is delicious!
This soup is a quick, Plate Method meal and easily made vegetarian. We think it’s a fabulous dish for these colder months and hope you do too!
Thai Shrimp Soup
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger (or ½ Tbsp ginger powder)
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic from jar (or 4 small garlic cloves, minced)
- 8 oz white mushrooms, rinsed and chopped
- 12 oz bag mixed frozen veggies (green beans, carrots, corn, peas)
- 6 C chicken broth
- 1 C uncooked rice
- 2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 15 oz can coconut milk (full fat or light, per your preference)
- 1 lb bag of frozen peeled and deveined shrimp
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat on the stove top. Add onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until onion is fragrant and begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- To pot, add chopped mushrooms, bag of frozen veggies, chicken broth, rice, Thai curry paste, and coconut milk. Stir well to combine. Cover soup with lid, increase heat to high, and bring soup to a boil. Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until rice is tender.
- Taste soup and add more curry paste, salt, and pepper, per preference. Remove from heat, add frozen shrimp, and cover for 5-6 minutes until shrimp are opaque and pink. Serve in bowls, warm.
Swaps
For the shrimp
- Chicken: Cut raw chicken breasts in to 1-inch cubes and add to recipe with mushrooms, veggies, broth, etc. Check to make chicken is cooked through before serving.
- Tofu: Cube tofu and add after the other soup ingredients have been simmering for 10 minutes. Soften or silken tofu will absorb more flavor but is more delicate so stir carefully. Firm or extra firm tofu will keep its shape better.
- Chickpeas: Rinse and drain a 15 oz can of chickpeas and add after the other soup ingredients have been simmering for 10 minutes.
For the chicken broth: vegetable broth
For the mushrooms: 2 diced bell peppers or ok to omit
Recipe modified from: Gimme Some Oven