Recipe: Vegan Corn Chowder

Looking ahead at the weather, this recipe post couldn’t be more timely. Fresh corn is still in season, although not for much longer and we do have some upcoming cooler temps and rain (ugh) in the forecast. Let’s hang onto summer as long as we can with this one!

Vegan Corn Chowder

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 medium onion, diced


3 cloves garlic, minced


1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


4 cup fresh corn (from 5 to 6 ears)


1/2 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks


1 lb thin skinned potato (like yukon gold), cut into 1/2 inch chunks


4 cups vegetable broth, divided


1 tablespoon corn starch or arrowroot


3/4 cup coconut milk, regular or lite


2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Salt to taste

Fresh black pepper to taste

To garnish:Chopped fresh chives (1/2 cup should do it)

Thinly sliced fresh basil (1/2 cup or so)

Thinly sliced radish

A few extra fresh corn kernels

Preparation

Preheat a 4 quart soup pot over medium high heat. Saute onion in oil with a pinch of salt until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for another minute. Add corn and carrots and cook for 3 more minutes or so.

Measure one cup of the broth into a measuring cup. Mix in the cornstarch with a fork until dissolved. Set aside.

Add remaining 3 cups of broth to the pot, along with the potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, break the corn cobs in half and add them to the pot. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Remove corn cobs. Add remaining vegetable broth and starch mixture, and cook to thicken, about 3 minutes. Add coconut milk, black pepper, salt to taste and lime juice.

Use an immersion blender to blend about half of the soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender (get one!) then transfer about half of the soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth then add back to the pot. If the soup is still steaming hot, make sure to either keep the opening on top of your food processor open, or lift the lid often for steam to escape. If steam builds up in a close container it can explode the lid off.

Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve garnished with fresh corn kernels, fresh herbs and radishes.