Are you looking to take your spring-time detox to the next level?
Eating the young edible tender shoots of spring greens is common among cultures around the globe. And for good reason. Spring greens help cleanse your gut and are the antidote to a long winter diet loaded with heavier foods.
Low in calories yet high in fiber, spring greens are the perfect tool to assist with a natural detoxification process. This recipe for Mixed Greens Soup with Coconut Milk and Green Curry supplies the dense nutrition your body needs without requiring you to forage in the wild.
This recipe was originally developed to use extra greens you might have in the house, so substituting other greens you have available, such as green curly kale, collards or green chard is divine. Just be sure to cut any stem pieces nice and tiny or remove the stem altogether.
We recommend adding chard with diced stems to the soup pot when you add the potato. Avoid adding more kale like red bore or lacinato if you want a soup with more balanced flavors. Right now, look for spring onions, a special seasonal treat at The Patch.
Mixed Greens Soup with Coconut Milk and Green Curry
Makes about 8 cups
Ingredients
Beet Greens — 4 packed cups cut into approximately one-inch squares
Turnip Greens — 4 packed cups cut into approximately one-inch square
Onion – 1 medium red or yellow onion, ideally a fresh spring onion, diced
Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
One large russet potato, peeled and cubed into ½ to ¾ inch cubes
Garbanzo Beans – 2 cans, both beans and liquid. If you’ve cooked your own, then 3 cooked cups of beans and 1 ½ cups cooking liquid
Coconut Oil – 3 Tbsp.
Coconut Milk – 2 cans, regular (or “light” if you prefer)
Green Curry Paste – 3-4 Tbsp. (Thai Kitchen or comparable)
Makrut Lime Leaves – 2 leaves, deveined and sliced very thinly (chiffonade)
Salt – 2 ½ tsp. or to taste
Black Pepper – ½ tsp. ideally freshly ground
Cilantro – 1 Bunch, chopped, for garnish
Optional – squeezes of fresh lime juice for garnish
Instructions
Remove most of the stems from the greens and wash carefully to avoid any grit. Pat greens dry and chop in one direction and then the other. This is so you don’t get big floppy, slurpy pieces of greens in your spoonfulls.
Add 3 Tbsp. coconut oil to a soup pot. Over medium heat, sauté garlic and onion until translucent but not browning. Add greens and cubes of potato and sweat them until the greens start to get a little limp and lose their volume and the potato cubes lose their pointy corners.
Drain garbanzos, reserving liquid to add later, and add beans to the pot. Add the chiffonade of makrut lime leaves and green curry paste and keep stirring.
Once everything is well-mixed, add the reserved garbanzo bean liquid, and two cans of coconut milk. Add about two more cups of water – all the veggies should be covered in liquid and then about an inch or two more liquid above, and reduce to a simmer. Add half of the salt and pepper; you will use the rest to adjust the taste to your liking later on.
Cook until greens, potato cubes, and garbanzo beans are tender but not mushy.
Take ¼ of the soup out of the pot. Using an immersion blender, blend the rest of the soup in the pot so it is creamy and smooth. Return the other ¼ of the soup to the pot – this will give you nice texture and flavor elements of whole veggie and bean pieces floating in the creamy soup.
Check salt and pepper levels and adjust.
Serve with freshly chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime.