Can I Use A Different Curry Paste For The Spinach And Coconut Soup?

Our answer

Nigella's Spinach And Coconut Soup is a super-quick soup made from ingredients that may be in the freezer and pantry. The recipe uses Thai green curry paste as it has a hot but fresh flavour that goes well with the spinach, and its colour also means that the soup will remain quite verdant.

Unfortunately, most Thai curry pastes (red and green) include lemongrass as it is a foundation ingredient for many Thai dishes. Its flavour is tempered by the coconut milk, but if you really can't stand the flavour then it could be useful to make your own green curry paste without lemongrass. Curry pastes freeze well and can be frozen in convenient portions if you first freeze tablespoons of the paste in an ice cube tray and then transfer the cubes to a freezer box or bag. Otherwise, we would suggest looking for a Keralan curry paste instead. Keralan curry includes some similar ingredients, such as ginger, green chillies and lime, but normally without lemongrass (check the label in the jar to be sure). Keralan curries are usually made with coconut so this paste should go well with the other ingredients. However, please bear in mind that if you use this paste then the flavour of the soup will be different and you may need to adjust the quantities of curry paste according to your own taste.