good food: creamy wild rice soup

creamy wild rice soup with fresh croutons
adapted from heidi swanson's Super Natural Cooking.

2 T. coconut oil
3 t. red curry paste (less if you don't like the spice)
1-2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 white (or yellow) onion, chopped
1 1/2 c. wild rice, rinsed
6 cups water
1 sweet potato, peeled & diced into 1/4 inch cubes
sea salt
2 1/2 t. turmeric
1 T. natural cane sugar
1 T. shoyu sauce (or good quality soy sauce)
1 (14 oz. can) coconut milk
squeeze of lemon juice (lime if you have it)

Heat 1 T. coconut oil in heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste, garlic, shallot, and onion. Saute' for 3 or 4 minutes, until onion begins to soften. Make sure the curry paste is evenly distributed.

Stir in the wild rice and 5 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, and cook, covered, for about 40 minutes or until the rice starts to soften, split, and show its fluffy insides. Taste it.

Prepare your croutons. Here you see sliced daily bread of ours, but I also used Heidi's suggested sweet potato croutons for the other half of this soup. To make: heat the other 1 T. coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cubed potatoes (or bread) and toss with a pinch or two of sea salt to coat with oil. Cook a few minutes, turn, cook until the sides have been browned. When cooked through and crunchy, place on your silpat or on a paper towel.

When the rice is tender, stir in the turmeric, sugar, shoyu, coconut milk, the remaining cup of water, and 1 t. salt. Stir, return to a simmer, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle. Remove and finish with your squeeze of lemon or lime juice. Taste for salt.

To serve, top with a lovely mound of croutons. Delicious.

*I think adding a leafy green like kale would be a nice addition. I'll try further variations on additional batches, as this is a new favorite.