1long Asian eggplant or small round eggplant, thickly sliced into chunks
3tablespooncooking oil
1clovegarlic, crushed or finely grated
1knob fresh ginger, finely grated
1kaffir lime leaf, optional
3tablespoonred Thai curry paste, check label if vegan
1 ½cupsvegetable stock
½cuplight coconut cream
2tablespoonpeanuts, dry toasted
Optional garnishes:
Spring onion, thinly sliced
Red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
Kaffir lime leaf, thinly sliced
Lime wedges, for squeezing
Instructions
Begin by spiralizing your zucchini, carrot and sweet potato. Set aside in separate piles.
Heat a frypan to a moderate heat and fry eggplant in 2 tablespoon cooking oil until deep golden brown on all sides. Season with salt and set aside to drain on kitchen towels.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon cooking oil in a deep frypan or saucepan. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds or so until fragrant.
Add curry paste and kaffir lime leaf and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Curry pastes vary a lot in their intensity, so if you know you don't like too much heat start with less (maybe 1-2 tbsp) as you can always add more later on if needed.
Add vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Taste and add more curry paste if needed.
Add coconut cream and bring back up to heat.
Add sweet potato spirals and cook for 2 minutes.
Add carrot spirals and cook for 1 minute.
Add zucchini spirals and cook for about 30 seconds - just enough to heat them through.
Ladle soup and spirals into a deep bowl. Add eggplant into the broth around the edges and sprinkle with peanuts. Add garnishes and serve immediately.
Notes
Serves 1 but can easily be multiplied to suit more people. If you're multiplying the recipe use common sense with the cooking oil. You probably won't need to double or triple it - use as little as you can get away with to fry the eggplant, for example. You could also add tofu or another protein of your choice to make this a more substantial meal.