Coconut Curry Chicken Soup (Curry Mee)

I had this soup for the first time at a Saints party.  I have been planning to make it for over a year and I finally did.  On my first attempt, I used rice noodles not glass or cellophane noodles, well the rice noodles soaked up all of the liquid and I was left with a soggy stew-like paste (very tasty paste, but paste all the same).  Round two: glass noodles, and wait till the soup is served to place them in the bowl.  Much better!

Ingredients:

• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 1 C. onions, finely chopped
• 1 T. ginger, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 T. red Thai curry paste (more or less depending on your heat level)
• 1 lb. chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into bite size pieces (about 2 breasts or 5 tenderloins)
• 2 (14 oz.) cans coconut milk
• 1 qt. (4 C.) chicken stock
• 2 T. fish sauce
• 1 T. sugar
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into 2-inch strips
• 1 C. sugar snap peas
• ½ C. green onions, finely chopped
• ¼ C. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• 8 oz. glass noodles

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté the onions and ginger in the vegetable oil until soft about 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and the curry paste and cook for one minute.
3. Add the chicken and stir fry for two minutes.
4. Add the coconut milk and incorporate the curry paste into the milk.
5. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, sugar, red bell pepper and sugar snap peas.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the chicken is cooked through about 10 minutes.
7. While the soup simmers, prepare the glass noodles by boiling in water for 4 minutes.  Rinse and drain.  Reserve.
8. Add the green onions, cilantro, and lime juice to the soup and allow to simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
9. Place the glass noodles in the bottom of the soup bowl and ladle the soup over the noodles.
10. Serve with sambal (chili paste) for those who like extra heat!

Tips and Tricks:

• If you use leftover chicken for this recipe, you’ll need about 2 C. chopped.  Just wait and add it when you add the snap peas and bell pepper.
• Don’t be tempted to add the noodles to the soup pot.  They soak up all of the soup.  (I know because that’s what I did.)
• This soup freezes great!