Curried Coconut Noodles

Yeah..... so it's been awhile.  I had two kids so I'm going to call that my excuse.  I've been busy blogging about them and not food.

Well now that my littlest munchkin is almost two I seem to be having some more time to cook these days!

I even had a chance to go through my recipe box and clear out the recipes from Foods 9 (grade 9).  I kept a couple but come on it's been 16 years!

So I was trying something new tonight and as always I start out and then realize I only have about half the ingredients I thought I did.  Tonight it was vegetables.  I had a few carrots with black ends and a cabbage that had seen better days.

I really wanted to try and make a Laksa type soup.  My favorite restaurant in town makes amazing Laksa but I'm sure they have some spectacular asian ingredients I don't have tonight like lemongrass.  My kids love noodles and my littlest (let's call him Mr. O) is currently wheat free so rice noodles are great!  I'm lucky because my eldest (Mr. E) will eat almost anything.  Mr. O.... well we are working on it.

So I salvaged the cabbage and carrots and made a pretty amazing soup.  I don't normally write recipes down but this one was too good not to.

It's kind of a soup and kind of a pasta dish so it's a soup-pasta hybrid.  If you have leftovers it sucks up the juice and become pasta though so I think it's best served right away.  What I made was a great amount for 2 adults and two young boys.  If I had older children I would double it.  For sure.  Especially older boys...maybe triple.

Enjoy my surprisingly good tribute to Laksa!

Curried Coconut Noodles with Optional Sweet Sesame Tofu Garnish:

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion cut in long strips
2 garlic cloves chopped
1-2 tsp grated ginger (I freeze mine for easy grating)
2 carrots (cut in long strips)
1/2-1 cup shredded cabbage
2 cups veggie bouillon (or 2 cups water a bouillon cube)
1 can coconut milk
1/2 -1 tsp curry powder (I went 1/2 because the curry I have is hot and I add sirachi anyway)
2 tsp soy sauce (I use Braggs for wheat free)
1-2 tsp minced fresh basil (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 pkg of rice stick noodles

Garnishes:
Cubed tofu baked for 20 minutes at 375 F in 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp soy sauce
Chopped Cilantro
Soy Sauce
Sirachi

1.  In a medium-large saucepan fry onions in coconut oil until they start to brown.  Add in garlic and ginger and sautee a couple minutes longer.
2.  Add carrots and cabbage and sautee a couple minutes longer.
3.  Add in the bouillon and coconut milk and bring to a boil.
4.  Add the curry, soy sauce and basil and simmer on low-medium for 15-20 minutes.
5.  Cook the rice noodles separately.
6.  Rinse rice noodles in some cold water and then add them to the soup to reheat.
7.  Serve immediately with the garnishes.