Recipes to Make With Children: Ms. Rachel’s Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup
by Rachel Walters (Early Childhood Teacher)
why we work together
Children want to be a part of our lives. Their natural curiosities are exploding throughout their days as they explore the possibilities within their world.
Parenthood can be chaotic and challenging. Having our children help us cook is a great way to slow down and connect, while also learning something!
At Waldorf, we value collaboration, reverence, and community. Cooking with our children can be a great way to bring the Waldorf pedagogy into our homes.
Not only do we want our young people to be empowered, have autonomy, and confidence - we want them to understand and look for meaning in their everyday lives.
How often do we go to the store and the kids see a bright and colorful box and they want what’s inside? When the young child does the integral work of washing, and cutting vegetables, they understand that food doesn’t come from a box - but from the earth.
This is why, at CWS, we tend the garden, produce whole foods, and have the children cook and bake with us. This is what fancy restaurants call the simple concept of “farm to table”!
The educational journey is astounding, and we see it come to fruition even before we step inside the building. The lovely stone carvings we have in both of our parks - are made by our students. And the preceding skills that they have built upon began in the early childhood classroom while chopping vegetables.
For this soup recipe, the children can help pouring the liquids, measuring the spices, as well as stirring. What do the spices taste like alone? How colorful are they? Turmeric and curry can make beautiful pigment by simply adding it to warm water for water coloring. Have them take the barley and lentils into a container and shake them around like an instrument. What does the barley look like in comparison to the lentils? There is lots of fodder for conversation here.
Have them help with your composting. Or, if you’re a family that tries to limit waste, pack all of the veggie scraps in a bag in the freezer to later make a lovely vegetable stock. Show them that they are perfectly capable of chopping vegetables and contributing to their family’s sustenance. It will bring them self-esteem and confidence. Now they can proudly say, “I helped make this!” Producing something that feeds your family is absolutely something to be proud of.
And if we make a mess, it’s a new opportunity to have them help clean up!
Ms. Rachel’s Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup
This is a creamy, thick and hearty, super delicious soup that is packed with nutrients. It’s so very comforting - perfect for these cold days coming up. This recipe can easily feed a family of 5 and still have plenty leftover. I will not deny that it’s a labor intensive recipe, but it’s absolutely worth the work.
This is a one pot recipe.
I wanted to make this dish decadent and rich, yet flexible to substitutions and changes. Here’s how I did it:
Chopping
Peel and dice all of the vegetables. It’s a ton of chopping. And, because I believe in order of operations here, I suggest starting with the onion first, followed by the celery and garlic (those three will be going in the pot first), followed by leeks and carrots, then sweet potato and zucchini.
Cooking in one pot
After chopping all the vegetables heat the oil in the pan on medium heat, and toss in the onion, garlic, and celery let those cook down until they’re translucent. Periodically stir to prevent browning- we’re not caramelizing these onions today. Once those three ingredients have been softened and are translucent, add a teaspoon or so of salt. I prefer this soup to have a decent amount of salt, so I’ll suggest adding more salt later. We’re building upon the flavors for this soup.
A Whole Lot of Stirring
Next, toss in the leeks and a third of the carrots. Periodically stir and If you need to turn the fire down to low, go for it - we want these flavors to slowly merry. Once carrots and leeks have softened, throw in the curry powder, tumeric, and ginger powder. Stir all together so all the ingredients are incorporated. Let cook on low. Next, add the rest of the carrots and salt again and stir. Let that cook on medium while stirring and pour in the coconut milk. Continue to stir occasionally and add another teaspoon of salt.
Let this pot sit for 10-15 minutes so that all the flavors come together.
Next pour in 4-ish cups of water and the lentils and barley. For those of you who are gluten free, you can substitute the barley for a rice of your choice or simply leave it out.
Because we need to cook here, and keep the heat at a medium (no need to boil anything); I highly suggest stirring often after putting in your lentils and barley. They will want to sink to the bottom of the pot and form a crust there - and we don’t want that.
Continue to stir as the grains and legumes hydrate. You can add more water if you’d like the soup to be more broth-like.
Taste the liquid to see if you like it - does it need more salt? At this time, you can add a scoop of bullion, if you like, or additional herbs and spices you enjoy.
For serving, you’re welcome to top it with crushed cashews or maybe some diced green onion.
Ingredients
4 tbs Olive/vegetable oil
1 tbs veggie/chicken bullion (optional)
1 tbs of curry powder
1 tbs turmeric powder
1 tbs ginger powder
1 bunch of celery
1 leek
3-4 mid sized carrots
2-3 small to medium sized zucchini
1 yellow onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 sweet potato
2-3 cans of coconut milk/cream
