Mr Firehouse and I are pretty good at meal planning. We have to be to avoid shopping every couple of days with a toddler who loves to run up and down the aisles. Especially one who is currently obsessed with doors. Guess where he runs to first?Go on, guess.  Anyway, there are times in the week where we plan a bit loosely and might buy something nice at the farmers market. So it was that I once ended up on a Friday afternoon with no meat in the fridge, a few sweet potatoes, cauliflower and some admittedly sad looking thai basil leaves that had been bought for something else. I scoured the internet for something that wasn’t a vegetarian green curry. The idea of red curry soup intrigued me but as I looked through the multitude of jars in my fridge, all I could find was green curry paste. Let’s just say I pretty much substituted everything in that recipe except for the onions and garlic….this happens pretty often. When the recipe said pumpkin, I heard sweet potato. When the recipe asked for red pepper, I was certain they had meant cauliflower. Kale, no worries, thai basil will do just fine.

Ingredients

• 1 small head of cauliflower roasted
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1.5 tbsp. of green curry paste
• 1 tin (400ml) coconut milk
• 1 cup thai basic leaves, loosely packed
• 2 tbsp. oil divided

Preparation

In a medium saucepan fry the garlic and onions in a tbsp. of oil until just softened.

Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes and stir until  well mixed. Add just enough water to cover the veg and place on a medium heat. When the pot comes to a boil turn the heat down to medium and let it simmer with the lid on until the vegetables are softened.

Transfer the soup to a blender and puree with the thai basil leaves.

In the same sauce fry the curry paste in the second tablespoon of oil until fragrant, add the coconut milk stir well and add the pureed soup. Bring the mixture to the boil and take off the heat.

Serve with a few extra basil leaves to garnish.