Serves 8
Active time: 15 minutes || Total time: 40 minutes
For this recipe, I went into kitchen and stared at the kale for like a half hour. What would you like me to do with you, kale? Guide me, oh ruffly one! When that failed, I threw it into a soup.
The results were a grab-bag of texture! The kale is rugged and chewy, the rice is fluffed up and soaked through with flavor, and the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy, just the perfect sweet bite. All of this in a creamy, coconut base bursting with all of those sensuous red curry flavors. The gingery aroma will waft through your entire mansion! So stop spending money on scented candles, soup is the best aromatherapy.
Notes: Since curry pastes vary from brand to brand, start with 2 tablespoons and add more from there. I didn’t make this very spicy but I definitely serve it with plenty of Sriracha. If you would like to use brown rice, that’s fine! Just let it boil for 20 minutes more before adding the sweet potatoes and kale.
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced medium
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3/4 cups basmati or jasmine rice, rinsed
6 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons red curry paste
1 bunch purple kale, pulled from stems and torn into bite size pieces
1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 can lite coconut milk
1 tablespoon agave syrup
Juice of one lime
Optional: fresh chopped cilantro to garnish
Preheat a 4 quart soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion in oil with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes or so, until translucent. Add garlic and ginger and saute a minute more.
Add rice, vegetable broth and salt, cover pot and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, lower heat to simmer. Mix in 2 tablespoons curry paste. Add kale and sweet potatoes. Cover pot and let simmer for about 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.
Add coconut milk, agave and lime. Taste for salt and flavor. Add more curry paste if you like.
Remove from heat and serve immediately, or even better let it sit for 10 minutes to give the flavors a chance to meld. Top with fresh chopped cilantro if you like.
This looks absolutely fantastic. I’ll certainly be trying it.
That looks amazing! Will be on next week’s meal plan for sure!
I actually wrote that in the headnotes! 20 minutes more of boiling before adding the kale and sweet potatoes.
That looks wonderful! And if you added some tofu, it could be a one-pot meal!
I have some rainbow chard, could i substitute? Do you think the flavor would change?
That would be great! Just slice the stems thinly.
yay! This iooks AWESOME!!!!!!
Really like this simple recipe. I enjoy kale in soups and curry with coconut milk is usually delicious.
Looks incredible, and easy enough to satisfy any curry-craving I have despite living on an island VOID of all things spicy…
wow, i made thai red curry for lunch today, and then I see this! We’re on the same wavelength~ I’m gonna try your recipe next time. 🙂 The picture looks amazing.
I will try replace the kale with rapini…tonight’s dinner, thanks!
This might be a silly question, but when you say one can of coconut milk how many ounces are we talking here?
14 to 16 oz.
Just made your quinoa, white bean and kale recipe tonight. 1) It was delicious, 2) it gave me enough leftovers to last a week, and 3) I can’t wait to try this next take on kale! Your low-fat section rocks, thanks for providing so many recipes that are healthy and STILL bursting with flavor.
Also noteworthy? The pumpkin oatmeal cookies. They were a big hit, even with my non-vegan family!
Made this for dinner tonight. Pretty delicious. My first time using curry paste, and I added about 4 tablespoons. I like spicy! It turned out well.
I made this for dinner tonight. Man oh Man was it fantastic! Thank you for the recipe!
i was just staring at my kale today, wondering what to do with it! since I have all the ingredients thanks to today’s Farm Fresh Delivery, I think this will be lunch tomorrow. thanks as always, Isa. Just love u!
Made this for lunch. It’s super awesome! Thanks. Kale rules the world, ya know.
That looks beautiful and tasty!
I made this for dinner tonight, and my boyfriend and I were totally blown away. OMG, It’s SO freaking good, and so easy to make! I was a little worried since I’m not crazy about coconut milk and I honestly hate sweet potato (it was always the only thing I could eat at Thanksgiving, I probably got sick of them), but they are both delicious in this! I used regular green kale instead of the purple kind and since agave nectar is a pain to get where I live, I used maple syrup instead. The maple flavour wasn’t even noticeable, so it worked out great! I’ll definitely be making this again!
This looks divine!!! We just got back from Thailand and are obsessed with al things curried. Can’t wait to try it!
Made it tonite and it was fabulous! Did you use yam or sweet potato? Recipe says potato but the pic looks like yam…
?
Anyway, great work Isa, thanks so much for sharing…YUM!
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This soup is RIDICULOUSLY amazing! I made it for lunch today, and just finished my second bowl. I made it exactly per the recipe, and I can’t wait to be hungry again so I can eat some more.
made it for dinner tonight. this is an awesomely simple way to get my family to eat kale and sweet potatoes. thanks again Isa!
I have been trying out different recipes from your page and so far everything has turned out great. I took the Ginger Chocolate Chunk Scones into work today and everyone loved them. I am excited to try this soup. My boyfriend and I love red curry!
This looks really yummy. I love that the most difficult thing seems to be sauteing onions. I think we all can do that. The rest is a breeze. Can’t wait to make this. I’m curious though, sometimes cooking with rice is tricky. I make big veggie soups and once I put the rice in too early or let it cook too long and it became mushy. I guess if I follow the recipe here it should work out fine…this is my problem sometimes. Getting a bit too creative! 🙂
This is timed pretty accurately so that the rice is not mushy!
I really just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you! I recently bought Appetite for Reduction and LOVE each and every recipe I have made, so far. And there are so many more I want to make. Then I came here just to peruse and found this recipe, which I whipped up in no time (I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand!). It is so yummy, warm, and perfect. I am a rock star in our house, thanks to you!
Oh wow! So good! Used water instead of broth, added broccoli and red bell pepper and used just a half a can of lite coconut milk, so amazingly delicious.
This was Dlish!! I didn’t have the greens so I followed the recipe and added red peppers with the sweet potato chunks, and frozen peas about five minutes before it was done. I also used brown rice and let it cook in the broth for 15 min before adding the veggies, as suggested. The flavoring was so good. The textures with the brown rice made it very hearty. Even my carnivore husband and finicky teenage son had to admit it was tasty. My husband complained about the lack of meat until he had his first bowl; nothing but praise en route to second helping. This will be a winter favorite. Thanks so much!!
i just made this with tofu, and it turned out fantastic!
isa, are ALL red curry pastes HOT? do you know a brand that is not hot?
Hi Isa! Your recipes actually make me want to cook! I LOVE red curry! After trying it the first time, I wanted to make it myself so I could have it all the time. Unfortunately, isn’t there always shrimp paste or fish sauce in these pre-made store bought brands of red curry? And if it’s not listed explicitly, it’s probably hidden under “seasonings/natural flavor”. Do you know of any brands that 100% don’t have this shit in their product? I’ve been without red curry for some time now, and i’m starting to get withdrawal symptoms!
Yes, I should have mentioned that! Thai Kitchen is vegan and very common. My favorite is Thai & True brand but I think it may only exist in the Pacific Northwest. I have seen others that are vegan, though, so just keep an eye out.
I swear EVERY single recipe of Isa’s that I try is phenominal! This one definalty does not dissapoint! Even my husband (huge meat eater) loved it and asked if he could take the leftovers to work. I used wild rice, and had to cook it for quite awhile, I would say about 30 mins longer, but it is just sensational. Thank you Isa so much!
This is so good. So good. I’m fantasizing wildly about the leftovers I am going to have tomorrow.
I made this last night and it was amazing. A perfect blend of spices and sweetness, I plan to use this mix again for more soups or sauces. This recipe was made using ingredients I always have on hand, so I’m sure I’ll be eating this soup again and again. Thanks!
This soup is so delicious. I made this last night for my husband and three boys (ages 8–13). They all loved it. It was quick and easy to make and I am sure I’ll be making it on a regular basis. I can’t wait to have that one left-over bowl for lunch today!
Absolutely loved the soup! I used quinoa instead of rice and threw in a can of chickpeas for extra protein.
I can’t wait to give this a try! Sounds great 🙂
I made a double-recipe last night so I could share with our neighbors. My husband, our neighbors (a married couple), and I all LOVED it! The spice was just right for me, but my hubs wanted more.
I’m eating it for lunch now (I threw in some chickpeas I needed to use up), and it’s still just as good. This is going into my rotation!
Here’s my two cents about the whole thing. First off, could not find “purple kale”. I asked the produce guy at wholefoods and he said he did not know of purple kale, but that they had red kale. I’m sure they are the same as the stalk of the red kale definitely looks pruple. I really like the qualities the kale added and next time I might add just a bit more as the prominence of the kale was really diminished once it was all cooked. I added the amount of rice it called for (3/4 cup), but then looked at it and thought that it didn’t look like enough, so I added probably another half cup total. Way to much in my opinion, it kind of turned into a gumbo like consistency instead of soup. Still yummy, but too thick I think. Next time I’ll be sure to add just the amount of rice it called for and no more. The recipe called for white rice, but did say you could substitute brown rice. I decided to use brown rice instead. It took about 20 minutes longer to cook. For the red curry paste, I think I might experiment with other types of curry paste next time, but I used “Thai Kitchen” Red Curry Paste. I added 2 tbsp to start, but just continued to add to taste. I did not add the agave, as I found it was PLENTY sweet with just the lite coconut milk. 2/3 of the three kids liked it, which is a huge and pleasant surprise to me. I really like the recipe and will definitely make it again! Thanks for the AWESOME recipe!
Another perfect recipe! I am never let down by you!
This is one of the easiest, tastiest recipes I have made in a long time. I made it exactly as suggested (with brown rice) and can’t think of a single thing I would change. It took no time to make. In fact, it left me enough time to also bake your pumpkin bread recipe today too which was also a hit with the household!
Thanks for being so inspiring! I always love perusing my collection of your cookbooks and this site.
Hubby made this tonight to “help out”. He got the broth ratio off when adding water to the concentrate. We used pearl barley which worked really nicely, though I can’t wait to make this again myself to experience the less salty true flavor of this soup. 🙂
This recipe is the bomb. ;] I have made it several times, and am looking forward to having it for dinner tonight!