Curry Noodle Soup

The Pinterest Challenge: Winter Edition

**UPDATE: This originally appeared on my personal blog but after thousands of views and hundreds of comments, I decided to move it to my public blog. None of the comments transferred over but the bottom line is lots of people love it, lots of people hate it, and lots of people add stuff to it. I'm so helpful, aren't I?

You may recall last season's Pinterest Challenge when I rocked the socks off a DIY Advent Calendar. This season, Bower Power and Young House Love are hosting it again with Hi Sugarplum and The Great Indoors. I wanted to participate because it forces me to do some serious DIY-ing. But the one thing I DIY’d was an adorable wreath…that had my address on it…and that made me uncomfortable to put on the blog. So then I considered just linking to the post about laying our flagstone patio since I technically got inspiration for it off Pinterest. But then I decided since I already blogged about it, it’d be kind of cheating. So instead I decided to pin the heck out of a dish I found on Pinterest that has become our new “go to” meal…with a few tweaks, of course. 

Yeah, food seems like a boring Pinterest Challenge. But hey, it’s delicious. And it’s easy. And if it’s wrong, my tastebuds don’t wanna be right…

The Pin-spiration: veggie laksa from Zen Family Habits

My Take: Coconut Curry Noodles
The cast:
1 Bell Pepper, cut into thin strips
A handful of baby carrots, cut into thin strips
1 jar Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
1 can lite coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
Rice noodles
Cilantro
soy sauce, to taste


Step One: Submerge the rice noodles in boiling water. Let them soak for a bit. If you can cover them, all the better. But just be sure they aren’t on the heat any longer—nobody likes an overcooked noodle. Oh, and don’t forget to take a really blurry picture.

Step Two: Drizzle a bit of olive oil into your pan and empty about half the jar of the curry paste into the pan. Mix up and let those two really get to know each other.

Step Three: Add one cup water plus one cup chicken broth into the skillet. Add the carrots and bring to a boil.  Cover and let it rumble…but only for like a minute. Nobody likes mushy carrots.

Step Four: Add the can of coconut milk and the peppers.

…okay, and maybe a bit more curry paste
Step Five: Add about 1/4 cup of soy sauce into the mix. In a bowl, put a decent helping of noodles. Then ladle on some of that delicious sauce and veggies right over the noodles. Top with cilantro. Add more soy sauce if you’re like me and have a Sodium-Wasting Superpower.

I made this for the first time a few months ago and I keep changing it a bit each time. It’s always a staple on our Monthy Meal Plan and fits nicely into our Under $200/month grocery budget. From start to finish, it’s only about 15 minutes. Quite the delicious meal, if I say so myself. And I do say so myself…who else would say it for me?
Happy eating!

**UPDATE: There are some great comments below with suggestions on variations of this recipe. Some people love adding shrimp, some add chicken, some sub fish sauce for the soy sauce (which sounds awesome but my husband would never eat it), and some added a ton more veggies. Feel free to scroll through below to get some more inspiration. Thanks to everyone leaving comments and for the great new ideas on how to make this meal even better!**