Asian Comfort Food (Coconut-Curry Chicken Noodle Soup)

Step 1: Rinse chicken pieces well & place in bottom of large stockpot or Dutch oven. Cover w/water & simmer 45 min (covered).

Step 2: Remove chicken to large bowl or platter. Allow chicken & stock to fully cool.

Step 3: While stock & chicken are cooling, prepare carrots & onions as directed & set aside.

Step 4: When stock has fully cooled, skim any foamy residue or congealed fat from surface of stock & discard. Strain stock through a fine sieve & return to stockpot.

Step 5: When chicken has fully cooled, remove & discard skin. Debone chicken, shred chicken meat as you go & return chicken meat to stockpot.

Step 6: Add 2 cans coconut milk, carrot coins, onion pieces and 1/4 cup (red or green) Thai curry paste to stockpot (or curry powder to taste if using). Stir well to combine flavors.

Step 7: Taste soup & adjust heat level (curry flavor) according to your preferences w/the addition of more curry paste (If using curry powder, you have already done this in Step 6 above).

Step 8: Over low heat, slowly return soup to a simmer & cook (uncovered) for 20 min.

Step 9: While soup is in final cooking stage, prepare rice noodles per pkg directions, drain well, rinse & set aside.

Step 10: If using snow peas as optional add, rinse well & add to simmering soup when 1 min of cooking time remains. When cooking is complete, remove soup from heat source & serve immediately.

Step 11: Place equal amount of rice noodles in the bottom of individual soup bowls, ladle soup over noodles, garnish as desired & serve w/a small dish of soy sauce on the table.

Step 12: NOTE: Although not a part of the recipe, I later thought mushrooms would also be good as an optional add.