Top 10 Recipes – Take Two

Hi All -- It's Jane writing tonight. Well, I finally got around to making the Thai Coconut Corn Soup from Vegan Express, by Nava Atlas. Lane and I love Thai food, and this looked like an old favorite of ours, Tom Ka Gai Soup. Vegan.com ranked this recipe number two in their list of top 10 vegan recipes of 2008, so I've been meaning to get around to it. Actually, I'm planning on trying all ten, but don't seem to be overly motivated these days.

Normally, I try to follow a recipe to the letter the first time I'm making it. Of course, I taste as I go along, so there is the odd occasion when I'll decide to modify a recipe on the first try, especially if the recipe is heavy on an ingredient I don't particularly care for. Tonight, however, I made an outright error. I mistook my container of white pepper for the container of curry powder I was looking for (don't ask me how, since my spices are clearly labeled and every one of them has it's own place). Luckily, I don't love curry powder in significant quantities, so I only put one teaspoon in the pot (the recipe calls for two). It didn't smell overwhelmingly of curry, that was promising. I taste-tested to see if I should add the second teaspoon... And where did that heat come from? Then I looked at the spice container in my hand and lo and behold... "White Pepper." Oy! So, I added the curry, but only one teaspoon... that was enough. And then I omitted the red curry paste as I thought the soup might be too hot if I included that ingredient. (We had red pepper flakes which I put out, like they do at the Thai restaurants we frequent.) Finally, the recipe calls for a red bell pepper, which I thought I had, but it was ready for the compost pile. I didn't tell Lane about my faux pas until after he'd eaten it and given it his seal of approval. I'm not sure the red bell pepper is even necessary, but it would certainly make for a more interesting picture.

So, I didn't quite make the recipe as written, but the soup I made was delicious and oh so easy. And it only took about 20 minutes to get together. I think it will be even better, next time, when I make it correctly. If you're interested in giving it a try, here's the link:

Recipe for Thai Coconut Corn Soup.

Cheers -- Jane

Related Information:

1. Top 10 Vegan Recipes
2. Last Nights Dinner, Brought to You by the Color Orange
3. Whole Foods – Vegan Chicken Curry Salad
4. Vegan Japanese Curry
5. The Blue Hen Restaurant Review