Kale Coconut Soup

Spring is almost here, but there are still some cool nights and cloudy days. Today was like that, so I made soup. Soooo easy. It will only take an hour. Vegetarian too.

Kale Coconut Soup

1 bunch kale washed and chopped
1/2 onion diced
1 shallot diced
1 clove garlic minced
2 cups butternut squash 1 inch cubes
1 tsp. coriander powder
2 cans coconut milk
6 cups chicken stock
1 tbls. grated ginger
1 dash cayenne
1/2 mango (optional)
Juice of one lemon
1 tbls sugar
olive oil

Using a vegetable peeler, remove skin off of butternut squash and then slice into 2 inch wide pieces. Than cut to smaller 1 inch pieces. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in your soup pot and sautee for about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside in bowl. You will add this back to the soup about 20 min. before you serve the soup. If you over cook the butternut squash it will fall apart (which if fine if you like that).

No need to clean the soup pot. Just add onions, shallots, garlic, ginger and coriander in atleast 1 tbls. olive oil and sautee until starting to brown and translucent about 10 min.

Pour chicken stock directly into pan, bring to simmer and cook for 20 min.

Add coconut milk, cayenne, lemon juice and sugar. Whisk if the coconut is clumping.

This is where I added mango but you can skip this step because it makes this whole recipe more involved. Ladle out 2 cups of soup into a bowl. Add 1/2 of mango peeled off its skin. Use an immersion blender to mix the mango completely into the stock. Add back to the soup.

Add butternut squash and kale. Cook covered on med. low heat for 20 minutes.

I made brown jasmine rice to serve with this and it added a nice aroma. Also, I added some fresh chopped cilantro before eating. The cayenne is optional. I only added the slightest dash because M. won't eat spice. She did not notice it tonight, but I do think even a subtle heat makes the dish more well rounded.