Chicken Curry Soup

Last June my friend Rachel got married in a beautiful wedding in St Andrews, Scotland.  There were gorgeous blue skies, bagpipes blaring, and a beautiful wedding cake.  Ok so I'm gloating a bit since me and my friend Mackenzie made the cake, but it was a luscious buttercream covered three tiered affair and it was delicious.  Alas the bride's sister is vegan and gluten free and the one drawback to a buttercream cake is that buttercream and vegan's don't mix.  After a whole bunch of experimenting we came up with some pretty delicious gluten free vegan cupcakes. (ok we cheated and used a mix - I can do a lot of things in the kitchen but apparently VGF baking is not one of them)

During the experimentation phase of the cupcake making I wound up with a jar of virgin coconut oil.  Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with coconut oil its a natural oil that is solid at room temperature and has a very high heat threshold which makes it ideal for frying.  Its used in a lot of vegan baking as a butter or lard  substitute and we had brought it home in hopes it would be our solution to butter-less buttercream.  While it did make a tasty frosting with a slight hint of coconut, it ended up being too runny to hold up to the heat of Scottish ceilidh dancing.

Which brings me to today.  I have been eyeing this jar of coconut oil for over 6 months now.  I'll be honest it has scared the crap out of me.  It looks WEIRD and solid and yet I know it gets liquid when its hot and its white and it looks like Crisco and I don't even know what the hell Crisco is.  But there comes a time when we all must man up and face our fears and today seemed as good a day as any.  I opened the jar, I dug out a spoonful, and I cooked.  Oh my how I cooked.  Delicious roast veggies perfectly crisp with just tiniest sweet taste of coconut and an Indian curry flavored soup that was rich and deep and wonderful.   Welcome to my 2012 life coconut oil - and thanks for the deliciousness.  



Coconut Oil Roasted Veggie 'Croutons' 
1 1/2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
peeled and diced sweet potato (use as much as you want)
peeled and diced butternut squash (use as much as you want, just add
salt
pepper
cajun spice mix

Melt the coconut oil in a pan.  Pour over mixed sweet potato and butternut squash and toss, seasoning with salt pepper and cajun spice mix.  Spread out on a foil lined baking sheet and roast in a 350F (180C) oven until veggies are crisp, about an hour.


Indian Chicken Curry Soup
1 tbsp coconut oil
380g diced chicken breast (or just 2 diced chicken breasts)
1 orange pepper, diced (you can use any old color)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp fresh ginger (i buy it in a tube)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 cup red split lentils

1 litre chicken stock (just over 4 cups)

several handfulls of baby spinach 

1. Melt the coconut oil in a soup pot.  Add yellow pepper and cook until it starts to soften, about 2 minutes.  Add the diced chicken and cook until chicken started to brown and is sealed on all sides. 

2.  Add the garlic and the fresh ginger and cook for a further minute.

3.  Add turmeric, cumin, chili powder cinnamon and ground ginger and cook for a further few minutes, stirring to evenly coat the chicken in the spice mixture.

4.  Add the lentils and the chicken stock

5.  Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is tender and the lentils have disolved to thicken the soup, about one hour

6.  Add the spinach and cook for a further 5 minutes.

7.  Serve with the veggie croutons sprinkled on top and enjoy!