Slow Cooker Thai Vegetable Soup

 

 

This Thai Vegetable Soup recipe was inspired by the one I found in Elana's Pantry, a website that features simple but flavorful grain free dishes.  Elana embraced this type of diet when she was diagnosed with celiac disease.  Since then she has given up all kinds of grains and found herself feeling healthier.  I actually submitted her version in one of the McGinnis Store Monroeville yearly soup contest.  It has coconut milk, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, ginger and lime.  These ingredients together perform a symphony of tasteful delight in an amazingly simple soup. 

 

I decided two days ago to develop the slow cooker version of this uncomplicated and yet refreshing dish.  One of the things I have learned when it comes to adding fresh ginger to a slow cooked recipe is to saute it first.  Adding it as is can give a subtle soapy taste which I am not a fan of.  Saute it and that taste disappears.  The sauteed ginger is key to this dish as well as the lime juice added later.  For a Thai dish, one does not even need the traditional Thai flavoring of the fish sauce to enrich it.  Salt is enough.  This without the fish sauce which some might be inclined to add makes this a true gluten free, dairy free vegan dish.  An awesome one at that.  My husband, Bob, a picky eater, gave it a big thumbs up and he abhors anything vegan or vegetarian or anything healthy sounding or looking dish. 

Slow Cooker Thai Vegetable Soup

(Adapted from Elana's Pantry.)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced
• 2 cups sliced fresh or canned mushrooms, (I used canned sliced mushrooms including stems but excluding the juice)
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (canned)
• 1 head broccoli, trimmed and chopped (I used 12 oz frozen broccoli florets)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 -2 tsps salt
• 2 tsps garlic powder 
• ½ cup cilantro, minced (optional) (I decided not to use but you can)

1. Warm oil in a large saucepan over medium heat or in the slow cooker  bowl using the saute mode if your slow cooker has it.
2. Add onion and minced ginger, stirring frequently until softened.
3. You can add the mushrooms and saute them also especially if they are fresh but I did not since I am using canned ones.
4. If using a large saucepan instead of the saute mode of the slow cooker, transfer the sauteed mixture to the slow cooker bowl.  Stir in water, coconut milk, and broccoli. 
5. Cook for 3 hours at high or 6 hours at  low in the slow cooker.  I used the Aroma brand rice cooker/slow cooker and I cooked the mixture for 2 hours at slow cooker setting.
6. Stir in the salt, garlic powder and lime juice at the end.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro (optional).