This soup is really good and so easy to make. Loads of totally fresh flavors going on in here. Coconut milk, lemongrass, garlic and ginger are blended together until smooth and creamy. The toasted chili paste adds depth and a little heat. Zucchini and soba noodles make your belly happy and full. It all comes together in a snap and with no added oil you can eat a big bowl with a smile on your face. Yes and yum.
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Ingredients for the Soup
2 cans of light coconut milk plus one can of water
2 zucchini
2 packs of soba noodles
2 cups of fresh mushrooms (one pack)
4 cloves of garlic
3 blades of lemongrass
2 handful thai basil or sweet basil
1 inch of ginger
1 tablespoon dry chili paste
1 tablespoon pepper flakes – if you like spice
a few dashes of soy sauce for sautéing mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Toast a tablespoon of dry chili paste on medium heat until fragrant. Blend 2 cans of light coconut milk with one can of water together with the lemongrass, garlic and ginger in your high speed blender. Pour contents into pot with chili paste and bring to a boil. Let simmer while you sauté the mushrooms in a few dashes of soy sauce. Salt soup to taste. Cut up the zucchini with a vegetable peeler or vegetable noodle maker. Cook the soba noodles la dente because you will add them to the hot soup. Add all the ingredients to the soup and serve with fresh thai basil.
Notes
If you don’t have a blender, use a food processor to form the lemongrass, garlic and ginger into a paste with a few dashes of coconut milk. Then mix that paste with the rest of the liquid. If you don’t have a blender or food processor, finely chop the ginger and garlic. Leave the lemongrass whole to just flavor the soup and remove the blades before serving.
Photography by Paige Alisa
Wow, these photos are absolutely stunning. This soup looks completely incredible! Thank you for sharing such a lovely recipe. Cheers!
Katie, thank you so much for your comment – it made my day!
Grace, I love your pictures, and this soups sounds amazing. We are having a few warmish days right now but once the temperatures drop I’ll have to make it myself.
Thank you Lena! It’s a good soup for cool weather.
I just made this and it’s a very good recipe. I made a few updates:
– Opted for liquid chili paste because I couldn’t find dry – worked fine
– Used lemon grass stalks and an extra bit of lemongrass paste for an additional kick
– Used soy creamer instead of a can of water
– Skipped soba noodles and used only zucchini
Also, I read a good tip on how to make the ginger not stringy – you mince it crosswise to break up the strings then puree it.
I think I will add more vegetables next time, like red or green pepper, to make it heartier but it’s a very good soup.
Hey! I just found this after I experimented with making my own lemongrass soup from the top of my head, and this looks amazing I really want to try it. I’m new to cooking and I live alone so I always have waaay to much left over – leading to my question – you say to use 2:1 coconut milk:water, how many servings did you get out of that? Because I was thinking of using 1:0.5, do you think that would work nicely??
Thank you 🙂
Been looking all over for “dry chili paste” – suggestions on what brand and/or where to get it?
I found mine at Trader Joe’s but it has since been discontinued. Here is a recipe for something similar – it’s called Nam Prik Pao (it’s basically the secret sauce ingredient to make all those traditional thai style dishes). You can find it at your local asian market or make it yourself: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016838-nam-prik-pao-chile-jam (substituting the shrimp paste for dried mushrooms to make it vegetarian). Hope that helps!
No Asian market where I live. Managed to get one from where my sister lives 4 hours away. Looked at a lot of recipes, but pretty much wound have still needed something from a market like that to complete it. Thanks for the info though! Trader Joe’s was the first place I had her check. I can’t wait to make this now, even if it is going to be almost 100F today… 🙂