Curry Soup

Today I was supposed to go horseback riding with a friend after work. Then one thing lead to another and I ended up at home this afternoon waiting...and waiting.... and when I wait I'm usually pacing around the house, straightening things up as quickly as I can, priding myself in the amount of things I can accomplish while waiting. As I was moving about the house like this, I noticed my coconut sitting on the kitchen counter. I had gotten it three weeks ago from the farmers co-op I've joined. So out of boredom I started hacking at it - not sure what I was going to do with it, besides milk it. I just knew if I didn't do something it would go bad. I didn't realize that my 6:00 coconut time would turn into a full-blown meal that would finally be eaten at 9:00...but I should realize things like this...because they happen all the time. Thus this recipe was created for you to enjoy. Try it and this soup will never leave your memory!

Curry Soup
1 coconut (or make your life simpler and buy a can of coconut milk!)
2 pork tenderloins
8 small red yukon potatoes (yellow in the middle, red skin...I'm in love with these potatoes)
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil (if you dare, you can use other oil, but it will ruin your life...I'm just sayin'!)
Salt and Pepper
2 Tomatoes, gutted and diced
2 small red bell peppers, gutted and diced
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups of water and 2 bullion cubes...knorr brand preferably...they will never ruin your life...just sayin')
1 to 2 tsp celery salt
1 Tbsp curry powder

Crack open your coconut (you will use an old, meaning brown, coconut...not a soft, meaning green, one). Drain the clear liquid. You won't use it in this recipe, so I drank it, just like that! Start shredding your coconut. If you are smart, you will find a bench to sit on with a coconut shredder nailed to the bottom of it and you can just run the coconut over the shredder...5 min later, you're done!....but since most people don't have one of those...see the picture below for what my shredder looks like.

It will take you all night, as that is how this recipe was invented, just a forewarning....but maybe it's just my weak hands...who knows.

While you are shredding your coconut heat a large pot on the stove on medium high to high heat. Heat the olive oil and butter till melted. Throw in two large pork chops that have been thawed. Give them a nice shake of salt and pepper. Brown on both sides.

Chop potatoes into medium large chunks, like you would for a tin-foil dinner.

Cut tomatoe in half than in fourths. Take a spoon and gut all the seeds and juice out. If you are in love with tomatoes like me, you can save the guts and use them for an omlette in the morning for breakfast. If you don't love them, leave them out of the entire recipe if you want. Dice once gutted.

Gut and dice the red bell peppers.

Once pork is browned till real crispy on both sides, leave heat on, but remove the pork to a plate. Add to the pan the chicken broth and let it deglaze (remove the crispy meat flakes from the bottom of the pan). Throw in, chuck in, whatever you like better, the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. Add celery salt, salt and pepper, and curry powder. Let boil till sauce is reduced and potatoes are soft. While this is cooking cube the pork. You still have a while, so go back to your now grated coconut. Fill a medium sized bowl with hot tap water. Heat in microwave for 3 minutes. Dump coconut shreds into hot water. Let sit for a few minutes until cool enough, yet still hot, to dare stick your hands in. Grap an empty medium sized bowl and have next to the bowl now containing hot water and the coconut shreds you slaved over. These time consuming babies are about to become painful....stick your hands in the water grabbing as much coconut as you can in your fist without squeezing. Lift it up out of the water, let it drain a little, then holding it over the empty bowl, squeeze the life out of it. Dump the now dry coconut in a third empty bowl (I guess I should have told you about that one too, huh). Repeat until all of the coconut has been squeezed, or milked. Place the dry coconut back into the hot water and do it all over again. You can generally squeeze the milk out of the coconut like this up to 3 or 4 times or until there is no more milk coming out of it. Throw away the remaining dry coconut.

Now that you have just milked a coconut, put a smile on your face and make your facebook status state how amazing you are...or not. Strain the milk to remove any possible extra coconuts that possibly escaped your fists while milking. Add the pork and the coconut milk to the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 min...or not at all, depending on how long you want to draw this out.

Dish up a bowl and enjoy.
(I saw you gag at my picture....just remember, an ugly picture does not equal nasty food...just means I'm a bad photographer, and I don't care either).