Asian Coconut Soup (aka more ways to use up veggies) #HedgeWitch

The other day a friend came up with a great identifying moniker for me: Hedge Witch (here’s one link that describes the HW phenomenon, although I bear no resemblance to the ethereal gal in the pic). I like it because even as Long Covid strips my life to the bone (I’m heading into my 23rd month and am beyond beyond words), I keep thinking about how to feed people well (the only thing I seem able to create at the moment is new dishes and pickles). Dreaming up recipes that tick my magic four boxes (must be delicious, inexpensive, healthy, and easy to make) is a good response to insomnia. Oh, and it helps if they’re light on planetary resources and encourage locavore habits (growing food, shopping locally, supporting small local businesses).

My most popular recipe is this one, but I've been wanting to dream up a lighter, brighter version that's also suitable for those with peanut allergies. So, here's my equally crudely and broadly named Asian Coconut soup, based on very similar principles. It's not quite as cheap as the peanut variety (although I buy tinned coconut cream every time I see it on special), but it's a good soup to make with gluts of baby marrows, carrots, cauliflower and sweetcorn, none of which are bank-breakers.

You'll need half a tin (at least — you can chuck in the entire tin, but then double up other quantities as well) of coconut cream. You can use tinned coconut milk as a substitute, but it won't have quite the same feel. Put a small dollop of seed oil (not olive, and definitely not butter or marge or any animal fat) in a heavy-bottomed pan, and in it, fry two big crushed cloves of garlic and a chunk of fresh finely chopped ginger on medium heat for a minute or two (it should be fragrant, but not yet turning brown). You can use more garlic, or a tablespoon each of commercially prepared crushed garlic and ginger, but not ginger powder. If you want to be very fancy, chop/crush a stick of lemongrass and add at this stage.

Now add the coconut cream. This is NB: melt it down and stir it around and fry it. It will start to bubble at the edges. Do this for at least five minutes, then add a bunch of chopped spring onions (I add the white bits first, and save the green stems to add two minutes before serving, but not essential) and stir around for another minute or two. Next, add half a tin of chopped tomatoes or half a cup of tomato puree (NOT the flavoured kinds with herbs etc added). Now add a peeled sweet potato cut into smallish chunks. Unlike its heartier cousin, this soup does not rely on sweet potato, so don't add too much — just enough to thicken it. Bubble away until the coconut-tomato mix looks silky and the sweet potato is softening. Now add fresh sweetcorn (at least two cobs, more if you have them) — stand the cobs on their end and cut off the kernels with a sharp knife. After a minute, add plenty of baby marrows — I like to cut them into biggish matchsticks (and also to add carrots cut into slightly smaller matchsticks at the same time). Feel free to cut both into rounds, though. Something else you can add now is cauliflower broken into small florets — broccoli would also work, also chopped bok choi. I also add half a cup of frozen peas. Add enough water to cover all the veg — at least three cups. Now add: tablespoon of soy sauce, teaspoon of red chilli flakes OR fresh chopped green or red chillies (your choice of quantity entirely), juice and zest of one big lemon (a teaspoon of lime juice is also nice, but not essential -- bottled is fine). Bring to the boil and bubble for a few minutes — don't overcook, the green veggies should still be slightly crunchy — and garnish lavishly with fresh coriander (leave this out if you have unfortunates in your life who can't tolerate coriander — it's a Real Thing).

To turn this into a full one-pot meal, add your favourite Asian noodles at the cauliflower/pea stage (depending on the cooking instructions on the packet) and extra water. If this dilutes the flavour a bit, add a heaping tablespoon of miso paste or another tablespoon of soy sauce. You can add sprouts, sunflower shoots and Thai basil at the coriander stage too.

When first making this, I found half a packet of prawns in the freezer, so I added those along with a splash of fish sauce in the last five minutes to turn this into a very jolly dish indeed. Obviously leave this out for vegetarians/vegans, but it should be clear that this is another lovely dish you can safely serve the gluten-intolerant (minus the noodles), the lactose-intolerant, and vegans. It's a little trickier and less flexible than the peanut stew above (some veggies just won't work here -- brinjals, for one, and beans/lentils make it way too heavy, although a few thinly sliced green beans are fine), but the good news is that it's very quick to make. Twenty minutes, including prep (basically chopping all the veg and opening the tins). Let me know if you come up with interesting tweaks.