Coconut Chicken Soup

After a rough morning at school, I came home to leftover coconut chicken soup for lunch. It was so very good. There's really nothing like a steamy bowl of soup with delicious, nutritious broth to make the world a little better (even if just for 15 minutes). And I thought if it made my day better, it might help do the same for friends too.

I love trying new recipes. Not that I have much time for it these days, but it's probably one of my favorite things to do. I really enjoy preparing someone else's idea of wonderful, tasting it, then throwing in a little more of this, a little more of that, or some oh-wouldn't-this-taste-good-in-it-too? My additions don't always make it better, but the process sure is fun. It's like revising a story because you have a form to work with instead of creating from scratch.

The original recipe is from the book "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon (in keeping with New Year's resolution 6). It looked promising and, having cooked nothing like it before, I had few expectations, which I think is helpful when going into a new recipe. Ryan had cut up all of the leftover chicken from the night before, so it took about 45 minutes total, and that's including tending to the babe. So here it is, with my additions.

Coconut Chicken Soup (for 4)
1 can whole coconut milk (Mae Ploy is my favorite)
3 c chicken stock (homemade if possible)
1/2 c brown rice (optional) - I used 1/4 c., and I cooked it ahead of time. It added some nice texture to the soup.
1/4 t crushed red chiles - I used cayenne as I didn't have crushed red chilies. I just kept adding to taste, probably around 1/2 t
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 t salt or 1 T Thai fish sauce - I used fish sauce, and added more than 1 t, to taste
1 t Sucanat/Rapadura, or palm sugar
juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes - I added more lemon juice (from the bottle in the fridge) to taste
1 T fresh basil leaves - I added a little more
1 c chopped cooked chicken meat or uncooked chicken meat cut into fine strips
+ I added about a cup of chopped mushrooms, which the recipe didn't call for but which sounded good to me ... and I was right :)

Put it all in a pot, bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes (unless you cook rice in the broth, then you'll have to simmer longer, and wait to add chicken until the last 15 minutes or so).

Delish!