A hearty soup that will thoroughly warm you up, this soup balances ginger and bird's eye chilies with sweet, earthy beets and rich, creamy coconut milk.
Ingredients
Serves 6-8
1 1/2 pounds beets
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 Tbsp ginger, peeled and minced
2 bird's eye chilies
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tsp fish sauce (leave this out if you want a vegan recipe)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
for garnish: 1 green onion, some pickled radish, lime zest, lime juice
Wash the beets, put them in a pot, cover them with water and bring to a boil. Cook 20-30 minutes until very soft. Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool before rubbing off the skins. You might want to wear gloves if you don't want pink fingers. Depending on the size you may need to cut them up into smaller chunks so that they puree easily later on.
While the beets are cooling cut the onion, ginger, and chilies. You might want to wear gloves when you handle the chilies, they are pretty hot. At the very least wash your hands right after so that you don't accidentally spread the hotness to more delicate places. Also, the best way to peel ginger is with the edge of a spoon, it's amazing.
Heat the vegetable oil in the same pot (after you wash and dry it).
Cook the onions until they are translucent, then add the ginger and chilies and continue to saute for 1-2 more minutes. Add the coriander and cook for 30 seconds more.
Now you can add the rest of the ingredients: beets, coconut milk, water, fish sauce, lime juice, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Puree until very smooth. Taste and adjust with salt if needed.
To make the garnish cut some pickled radishes, green onions, and a peel of lime zest into the thinnest strips you can manage. Toss together with a squeeze of lime juice and top each bowl with a small amount.
Enjoy
-Matt
