Curried Corn Chowder with Coconut Milk ♥

Curried Corn Chowder with Coconut Milk, another healthy soup ♥ A Veggie Venture
A hearty corn chowder, laced with zucchini and carrot and pungent with curry.

It's the time of year to throw a zucchini into everything we can. I know, I know, it's folly to think a household of three could make a dent in a backyard garden's zucchini production. Could a barnyard of pigs? I wonder.

For this soup, however, the zucchini was Plan B, after all, the goal was corn chowder not a mixed vegetable soup. But Plan A's farmers-market corn was wormy, only three of six ears were edible, the other three went straight to compost. But it turns out, I loved the zucchini addition, it not only added volume but also balanced the corn's natural sweetness. Besides? Color! The green inspired the addition of still more color, orange grated carrot.

RECIPE for CURRIED CORN CHOWDER with COCONUT MILK

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 60 minutes
Makes 4 1/2 cups

2 tablespoon butter
Sprig fresh thyme
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
3 ears corn, kernels and "milk" (How to Cut Corn Off the Cob: Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn "Milk")
1 pinch sugar
4 cups stock
Salt & pepper to taste, be generous

1 cup coconut milk
1 carrot, grated, for color
Fresh basil ribbons, for color and freshness

In a large, heavy pot, melt butter on medium-low heat. Add the thyme and let warm until aromatic. Add curry powder, let warm until aromatic. Add onion and garlic and stir to coat with fat, gently cook until onion begins to turn golden, watch the heat, butter has what's called a "low smoke point" and can easily burn if the stove temperature is too high.

Increase heat to medium. Add the zucchini, corn, sugar and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, let cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and corn are cooked, about 15 minutes. Taste occasionally and season with salt and pepper.

Remove the thyme sprig. With an immersion blender, purée just a bit, thickening the soup but ensuring that the zucchini and corn remain identifiable. Add the coconut milk and carrot, let simmer until carrot is soft, about 15 minutes.

To serve, stir in fresh basil and serve hot.

MAKE-AHEAD This soup can be made a day or even two ahead of time up to the point of adding the coconut milk and carrot.

LEFTOVERS The leftovers reheat beautifully.

VARIATIONS For a slightly thinner and less rich soup, add another 1 to 2 cups of stock. The curry flavor isn't "too curry-ish" but for anyone who's sensitive to curry, use a single teaspoon curry powder. You could also serve this with a dollop of basil pesto, it would stir in beautifully. For a vegan soup, use olive oil instead of butter to sauté the onion.

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
TEXTURE This soup's texture is important, that's why I suggest pureeing it to thicken but leave the individual ingredients discernible vs fully turning it into "one blended soup" in a blender or food processor.



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A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Love the combo of corn and zucchini. And I'll eat curry anything! We've been craving soup lately. Hope that doesn't mean we're like woolly bear caterpillars and that means a cold winter is in store! --John

    ReplyDelete
  2. John ~ Thanks, it’s two of the same vegetables in the soup you posted recently, the one with the jalapeños -- which we (especially I) really loved, especially cold for some reason! Thanks for taking the time to write!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I tried it and it turned out really really tasty. I am going to try out the other recipes too.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna