The potato is such a blessed vegetable, so versatile and endlessly delicious. Here it forms the basis of a simple yet interesting Thai-flavoured coconut milk soup, the sort of thing to whip up when the cupboard is bare or the palate needs a recharge.
It is equally good made with new potatoes, which keep their form and old ones that melt slightly. It’s not overly chilli-hot but has a spicy back-kick that is moderated by coconut milk and offset by a clean lemon tang.
I often make it for a home-alone lunch or supper, and follow it with a healthy salad of leaves or fruit. It becomes a more substantial meal-in-a-bowl if a handful of peeled prawns or kebab-size chunks of raw chicken are added towards the end of cooking. As is so often the case, the last-minute addition of coriander leaves unites the flavours with their curiously soapy but fresh flavour.
Serves 2
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 25 min
Ingredients
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 trimmed leek
1 lemon
1 red bird’s eye chilli
Knob of fresh ginger
4 potatoes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
¼ tsp of salt
600ml chicken stock
160g can coconut cream
25g coriander
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Method
Peel, halve and finely chop the onion. Peel and slice the garlic into wafer-thin rounds. Slice the leek in 2cm rounds. Agitate in cold water, drain and shake dry. Using a potato peeler, remove the zest from half the lemon in small, paper-thin scraps. Trim and split the chilli. Scrape away the seeds, slice the chilli in skinny batons and then into dice. Peel the ginger and slice thinly in pieces as thick as a shirt button. Peel and cut the potato into chunks, rinse and leave to soak in cold water. Heat the oil in a medium pan and stir in the onion and garlic. Cook briskly, stirring often, for a few minutes then add the chilli, ginger, lemon zest and a ¼ tsp of salt. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the leek, drained potato and the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes until the leeks and potato are tender. Add the coconut cream, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice. Coarsely chop the coriander leaves and stir into the soup just before serving.