Jade Sea: Chile Lime Coconut Curry Soup

This soup is mainly a slow-cooker meal, but the tofu takes a little extra work so that it becomes tiny little flavor-bombs instead of tasteless mush in some soup.  I will admit that some of these ingredients won't be able to be exactly replicated, but I'm sure you can come close.   For example, we were given some lovely homemade curry spice for christmas.  We also have some dried red chile peppers that we found at a flea market awhile back.  No idea what they are, but they are slightly spicy and slightly sweet and lend a really nice flavor to dishes.  The weather has taken a cold turn lately, so this soup was nice to cozy up with on a chilly night!

What you need:

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (I generally use Silk brand)
• 1 tbsp coconut mana
• 1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped
•  3 tbsp lemongrass paste
• 1 dried red chile pepper, finely chopped
• 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 head bok choy, chopped lengthwise
• 14oz. Extra Firm tofu, drained and pressed
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 limes, juiced, with the juice of 1/2 lime separated
• 1 1/2 tbsp chile powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

This recipe really couldn't be any easier.  To start, mix together the juice of 1/2 lime, lemon juice, and chile powder, then cut your tofu into small squares.   

Our curry spices!  Curry and ginger is a wonderful combination.

Place the tofu and the chile-lime mixture in a plastic bag and really shake it up to make sure each piece of tofu gets coated.  Place in the refrigerator.

Mystery Chile

Put all of your other ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6.  In the last hour of cooking, pull the tofu out of the fridge and place in the freezer, and preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit.  Once the oven is ready to go, pour the tofu onto a greased baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Put the tofu squares into the crock pot and serve.  We ate it with some delicious sourdough bread from the farmer's market, and it was a great combination!