From Failure to Flavorful ... the story of a salvaged dinner

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I pride myself on being organized and prepared, especially when it comes to dinner.  I like to have everything ready for prep and get started cooking as soon as Zach and Teddy go upstairs for Teddy's bath.  So imagine my surprise when I started cooking last night and I didn't have my main ingredient!! Last night could have been awful but thanks to the luck of the Irish (see what I did there ... it was St. Patrick's Day) and a forgotten package of sauce in the cabinet we had a wonderful dinner!

All day yesterday I was planning on making on of my favorite soups, my spin on this Thai Chicken Soup I first saw on Haylie Duff's blog Real GIrl's Kitchen.  I have a love affair with Thai food and eat this soup all year long, winter, spring, summer, or fall.  

The soup I was SUPPOSED to make.  Sigh ...

The soup I was SUPPOSED to make.  Sigh ...

The creamy coconut paired with the sweet and salt from brown sugar and fish sauce and the smooth spice of the red curry paste is just mouth watering.  I fill the soup with veggies and shredded chicken and rice and it becomes a full meal.  Mmmm, my mouth is watering right now.

We spent most of the day out yesterday so I had prepped the chicken and veggies earlier on in the day.  When we got home I started browning the chicken and worked on gathering everything else for the soup.  Veggies, two types of coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce, red curry paste ... red curry paste ... oh CRAP.  We were out of red curry paste!!

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How do you make Thai curry soup with out red curry paste?  You don't.   OK, so I would make a green curry.  My green curry is essentially the same as the Thai curry soup, just a bit less coconut milk, some thai basil and green curry not red.  Strike two, we didn't have green curry either.

Then my eyes landed on a package of Lemongrass Basil Simmer sauce by Saffron Road.  It required no change from my initial ingredients, less work, and was low in sodium (my fear with prepackaged sauces).  Sold!

So here are the recipes for BOTH of last night's meals ... the one we were supposed to have and the one we ended up having.  Enjoy your Thai food!

LEMONGRASS BASIL CHICKEN AND VEGGIES
Total Cook and Prep time: 30 minutes / Servings 4-6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Package Lemongrass Basil Simmer Sauce
  • 1-2 chicken breasts - cut into 2 inch x .5 inch strips
  • .5 C baby carrots cut lengthwise
  • 1 Head broccoli chopped 
  • 1 Pepper (red or green) thinly sliced
  • 1 Can of coconut milk
  • garlic and ginger
  • chili oil

DIRECTIONS

  1. In sauce pan, brown chicken over medium heat with garlic and ginger to taste
  2. After chicken is browned add in veggies to brown.  Add carrots and broccoli first for a few minutes then add more tender veggies.
  3. Sauté veggies and chicken for 5 more minutes or so
  4. Lower heat and add in both cans of coconut milk and simmer sauce.  Just allow to get to simmer, do not allow to boil.
  5. Simmer until chicken and veggies are cooked through.  You want veggies to be cooked but not mush.
  6. Add chili oil in small amounts if you want some spice to your dish
  7. enjoy this easy-peasy Thai dish!!

NOTE: there are no pictures of this meal because by the time I was started cooking I was so hungry I could think of nothing besides eating.  My apologies!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

THAI CURRY SOUP 
Total Cook and Prep time: 30 minutes / Servings 4-6

INGREDIENTS

  • 1-2 chicken breasts - cut into wide strips if you want to shred it later or cut into 2 inch x .5 inch strips
  • .5 C baby carrots cut lengthwise
  • 1 Head broccli chopped 
  • 1 Pepper (red or green) thinly sliced
  • mushrooms if you like
  • 2 Cans coconut milk
  • garlic and ginger
  • 2-3 Tbsp Red curry paste (Thai Kitchen red curry paste is great)
  • 2-3 Tbsp Fish sauce
  • 2-3 Tbsp  brown sugar
  • 2-3 Tbsp Lime juice (fresh or not - doesn't matter)
  • chili oil

DIRECTIONS

  1.  In sauce pan, brown chicken over medium heat with garlic and ginger to taste
  2. After chicken is browned add in veggies to brown.  Add carrots and broccoli first for a few minutes then add more tender veggies.
  3. Sauté veggies and chicken for 5 more minutes or so
  4. Lower the heat and add in both cans of coconut milk.  Just allow to get to simmer, do not allow to boil.
  5. Add in red curry paste, fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice.  Add in 1-2 Tbsp of each first and then add in more to your taste.  The tastes can be strong but they do balance each other out.  It is going to depend on your own personal preference on flavoring whether you want more curry or sugar or lime, etc.  This can take some plying around to figure out your exact preference.
  6. Simmer until chicken and veggies are cooked through.  You want veggies to be cooked but not mush.
  7. If you want to shred the chicken now is the time to do so - pull it out of the pot, shred it with two forks on a plate and then add it back to the soup.
  8. Add chili oil in small amounts if you want some spice to your dish
  9. Serve the soup over rice and enjoy this all season meal!