Red Curry Vegetable & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Crispy Hoisin-Sesame Tofu for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Sometimes soup inspiration just strikes. I made this delicious Bengali Fish Curry earlier in week. I was heating up the leftovers and decided to dump the remains of a can of coconut milk into it. As I was enjoying the soupy curry with cauliflower rice, I thought about what a great soup it would make. 

At first I decided to make a vegan chicken cauliflower rice soup, but then I decided to use up some red curry paste and a bunch of summer veggies (zucchini, red pepper, tomatoes, eggplant, carrot, onion and snow peas) lurking in my fridge. Wanting to add protein, I made a variation to Chloe Coscarelli's Crispy Hoisin Tofu from her Vegan Ramen Bowl, and thus my Red Curry Vegetable & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Crispy Hoisin-Seasame Tofu was born.

Red Curry Vegetable & Cauliflower Rice Soup with Crispy Hoisin-Seasame Tofu
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Serve 4 to 5) 

1 Tbsp coconut oil or oil of choice
3 Tbsp red curry paste, or to taste 
2 lemongrass stalks, stalks trimmed and bruised
4 to 5 kaffir lime leaves, torn
1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 Japanese eggplant, halved and sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced 
1 red jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 Tbsp ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock of choice
2 tsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce, or to taste
3-4 cups riced cauliflower
1 large handful snow peas, ends trimmed and cut into thirds
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 can (15 oz) coconut milk
fresh lime juice

To Serve: Crispy Hoisin-Sesame Tofu (recipe below), pea shoots, chopped green onion, Thai basil leaves, and lime wedges, as desired  

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat and add coconut oil and red curry paste, cooking for a couple of minutes to release the flavors. Add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and onions and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the red bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, carrot, ginger, and garlic and saute for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the broth and tamari and bring soup to a slow roiling boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the riced cauliflower, snow peas and coconut milk and simmer about 5 minutes until snow peas are tender crisp. Taste and add salt, or other seasoning (such as lime juice) as needed or desired.

To Serve: Ladle Soup into large bowls and top with Crispy Hoisin-Sesame Tofu, green onion, pea shoots, and Thai basil leaves as desired and serve with fresh lime wedges. Enjoy!

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Crispy Hoisin-Sesame Tofu 
Slightly Adapted from by Chloe Flavor by Chloe Coscarelli
(Serves 4)

2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 (16 oz) package extra-firm tofu, pressed (see note below) and cubed
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Heat \the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the tofu and sear for about 3 minutes per side, until it turns golden and crispy. (Chloe says the key to crispy tofu it not to flip them over too soon--to let them get nicely brown before turning them over.) Add more oil as needed if the pan looks dry. Add the hoisin sauce, tamari, and sesame seeds, reduce the heat to low and turn the tofu to coat it evenly.

Notes/Results: This bowl of soup with its Asian-inspired flavors really hit the spot. The cauliflower rice is a great, lower calorie and carb substitute to real rice and the tofu adds the right amount of chewy, meaty texture and flavor. I made this one vegan with veggies I had on hand and like, but you can adjust it easily with whatever you like--adding fewer or more ingredients and a different protein if you like. The red curry paste I use has a medium spice and with the jalapeno, it was the right heat level for me, but you can add more heat to the soup--or serve it with chili paste or sriracha if you like a bigger kick of spice. One note about the tofu--it is REALLY good and so I recommend making extra as like me, you may find your self noshing on it as you cook. I will happily make this soup again and will experiment with more cauliflower rice in soups. 

Lets take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen.

Debra of Eliot's Eats is here with Raw Butternut Squash Salad with Ginger & Raisins, She says, "I bragged during last month’s “In My Kitchen” about my beautiful squash plant and how it was loaded with lovely butternuts. Seriously, it wasn’t two days after that post that the entire vine withered away and died. (Squash bugs, perhaps?) Anywhoo, I was able to salvage half a dozen squashes. When I think of butternut squash, I think of fall….nice gratins, creamy soups, delicious pies and muffins. Definitely not salads. I wondered if you could eat it raw and after a couple of searches I came across some delicious sounding recipes: Raw Butternut Squash Salad with Ginger and Raisins by Mark Bittman and Fresh Butternut Squash Salad with prosciutto, Parmesan and walnuts by Marc Meyer.  Although I have to admit that the latter one sounded more delicious, I had everything to make the former one. So, Raw Butternut Squash Salad with Ginger it was."
 

 
Mahalo, Debra--for joining in this week!
 
About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

 
Have a happy, healthy week!

An InLinkz Link-up