Vegan Creamy Tomato Curry Soup

I do NOT cook vegan dishes normally, but I was trying out a variation on my creamy tomato soup and realised that this recipe is indeed vegan. Of course, I also added heavy cream as a variation and liked that best of all, but you can use 100% coconut milk and get great results. Caution, this soup is SPICY. If you don’t like a lot of spice, cut down the curry paste.

1 large can whole San Marzano tomatoes
Olive oil for sweating veg
3/4 cup mirepoix (carrots, celery, onions diced) Feel free to use frozen.
1 Tbl garlic paste (or 3 cloves minced garlic)
2 Tbl flour (or equivalent if you’re that picky)
1 Tbl red curry paste
1 tsp curry powder
1 or 2 small cans of coconut milk (the heavy creamy kind, not coconut water)
S/P
Sugar or agave

In a 2 qt saucepan, put a few turns of olive oil over med-hi flame and add mirepoix. Cook until the veg is translucent. Lower heat if it starts to brown, you want sweated, not sautéed. Add garlic, flour, curry paste and curry powder. Stir thoroughly. Crush in the SM tomatoes by hand. Stir. Add in one or two cans of coconut milk depending on how creamy you want it. I like it more creamy, so I use two small cans or one soup size can. At this point, cut the heat and use a stick blender to purée the veg. Or you can use a blender. Once the soup is as smooth as you want it, check S/P, add sweetener if it’s too acidic and then turn back on the heat. Bring to gentle boil for a couple of minutes, then simmer for another couple of minutes. Serve with crusty bread!

As I mentioned, I like the soup fine in this form, but if you’re not vegan and want a more creamy taste, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The spice of the curry still shines through, but the cream gives a lovely mouthfeel. Mmm!

This recipe yields about 6 cups or so.