SHRIMP SOUP Recipes

 I love the flavors of Thai cooking. The contrasts between sweet, sour, salty and spicy are intriguing and unique. This soup, with flavors of creamy coconut, spicy red chilis and a bit of curry, finds balance with citrusy lemongrass and lime. This is a recipe I’ve wanted to make for a while now. There are endless variations of this soup, but this is my lightened up interpretation. The end result is delicious.
 The key ingredient is coconut milk and normally, I’ve always reached for the canned variety. Even though I’ve only used the light version, the amount of calories, fat and saturated fat is really high. I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of saturated fats in my diet to keep my heart healthy. For this recipe, I decided to give Silk’s Unsweetened Coconut Milk a try. I did my homework on this and was so shocked to see the difference between Silk and the light canned coconut milk. Cup for cup, Silk has 45 calories compared to 180 in the canned milk. Most important to me, Silk has just 4.5 grams of fat, 4 of them saturated, compared to 16 grams of fat with 12 of them saturated in light coconut milk! That is about the maximum number of saturated fat you should have in your diet in one day!

INGREDIENTS :
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
4 teaspoons minced lemongrass or lemongrass paste
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups vegetable broth
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cups Silk Unsweetened Coconut Milk
2 cups Napa cabbage, finely shredded
sea salt to taste
lime wedges, for serving
fresh cilantro or parsley, for serving
green onion, sliced, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS :
In a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil, garlic, ginger and lemongrass. Give it a stir, then add the curry, crushed red pepper flakes and the broth. Increase the heat to medium-high bringing the broth to a light boil. Add the shrimp and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and cabbage. Increase the heat just a bit and as soon as the soup comes to another very light simmer, remove it from the heat.
Season with salt to taste. Serve in bowls and top with a squeeze of lime and some cilantro or parsley, green onion and additional crushed red pepper if you'd like.