Thai Chicken Watercress soup

The other day at my award ceremony...that's right I got the awards for "The Best in the Field"...anyway at the award ceremony I was seated next to a person whose father and grand mother owned restaurants in Mexico. In the course of talking I mentioned to him that I am always looking for ingredients which are high in Iron and he mention "Watercress" has a ton of Iron...turned out he was not correct.

But anyway when I was looking at watercress's nutrition turns out it has a pretty good amount of Vitamin C...which is what I need right now as my little one was generous enough to share his cold with me. So instead of making my standard chicken soup  I made this yummy coconut based soup with watercress  in it...

Needless to say I had to go shopping first...stopping at Sprouts for Watercress, Thai red curry paste, coconut milk and Onion pockets with Cheese breads for dipping in the soup. It was a great soup.

Thia Chicken WaterCress Soup (Coconut based Chicken soup)

Thai Chicken Watercress soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 chicken breast cooked and shredded or 1 12.5 oz can chicken breast
2. 1 8 oz mushroom sliced
3. 1 chicken bouillion
4. 3 cups water
5.  1 package water cress chopped into 1.5 to 2 inches
6.  1/2 tablespoon olive oil
7.  1 small onion sliced into 1/2 circles
8.  1 can light coconut milk
9. 2 tablespoons Thai red chilli paste or less (according to your spice levels)
10. 1 heaped teaspoon finely chopped garlic
11. 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
12. 1 tablespoon or more fresh squeezed lemon juice

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Add garlic and red chilli paste and fry for 2 more minutes. Add chicken bouillon and coconut milk on low flame bring it to a boil. Add chicken water and watercress and let boil for 5 more minutes. Add the lemon pepper and lemon juice and enjoy hot with bread

Sweet and spicy thai coconut soup

After moving to this new city we have missed our favorite Thai restaurants on the west coast. So here one day we found a Thai restaurant with good reviews to it and went to try it. The Thai coconut soups was very good but that's it. Nothing else was praise worthy. Anyway, the following is my take on the Thai coconut soup and yum yum it warms your up from inside. Enjoy

Sweet and spicy Thai coconut soup 

Sweet and Spicy Thai Coconut soup

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2. 1/2 tablespoons each of grated fresh ginger , grated garlic
3. 1 teaspoons red curry paste
4. 2 cups chicken broth
5. 1 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)
6. 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
7. 1 heaped teaspoon smooth peanut butter (optional)
8. 1/4 teaspoon or more sambal
9. 1/2 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk
10. 1 Tablespoon each of finely sliced onion, sliced mushroom

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions and mushroom for 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add red curry paste and stir for 1 minute. Add all the other ingredients and bring to a gentle rolling boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon dried basil and finely chopped cilantro before serving. Serve hot