Just Tomato Soup

Not Everything Is Work

Not every post in this series is about function. Not every meal is medicine. Sometimes it is just about eating something that grounds you. And the pleasure of making it for people you want to feed.

Cooking has always been the place where I can stop performing. In every other area of my life I was trying to prove my worth rather than connect. Food is different. It brings people together and it's the one arena where being the best was never the point.

I’m a bit of a foodie, but that’s not the point either. It’s about sharing. Introducing someone to something they’ve never tasted, watching it land — that’s connection. Same as putting on a record and feeling the whole room lock into a groove the second the needle drops.

This soup is that. Decadent, spicy, creamy, deeply savory. Not a protocol. Not a therapeutic intervention. Just a genuinely good bowl of soup worth making for yourself and anyone lucky enough to be around.

A Note on the Recipe

This started from a Bon Appétit recipe — linked at the bottom with the original video instruction. Theirs is a five-ingredient soup. Mine is not. I've added ingredients because I know what each one does to the flavor profile, and my embellishments are what moves the "groove". Start with their video, watch technique before you cook. Then come back here.

Creamy Spicy Tomato Soup

Serves 4 · Active time 20 min · Total time 35 min

Base/Sauté

• 3–4 tbsp coconut cream (skimmed from your can of cream)
• 1 large yellow onion, medium to large dice
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1-2 tbsp red curry paste (Maesri brand preferred — heat varies by batch, start with 1 tbsp)
• 1–2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 3 anchovy fillets, or 1.5 tsp fish sauce

Remaining ingredients

• 1 can coconut cream (cream - not - milk)
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, (low or no sodium)
• 1 large can (28 oz) whole peeled or crushed tomatoes (low or no sodium adde)
• 1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes

Finish

• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 pats of butter

At service

Top w/Chopped cilantro, green onions, and flat-leaf parsley

Method

1. Add base/sauté ingredients to a pot over medium-high heat.
2. Cook until onions are translucent and tender, about 4–6 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Simmer 10–15 minutes.
5. Blend to desired consistency
6. Finish with lemon zest and butter.
7. Garnish w/greens at service

Why These Ingredients

The coconut cream in the sauté base — not oil — is what gives this soup its body before you've added anything else.

Anchovy fillets or fish sauce: don't skip this. You won't taste fish. You'll taste depth. This is umami doing its job quietly.

Red curry paste carries the heat and most of the spice complexity in one ingredient. Maesri is the brand worth finding — inexpensive, concentrated, and cleaner than most grocery store alternatives. Heat varies batch to batch. Start with 1 tbsp and taste before adding more. It freezes well — portion into tablespoon-size packets in plastic wrap before freezing so it's ready to use.

Tomato paste alongside whole tomatoes is the difference between a thin soup and one that coats the back of the spoon. The paste thickens and deepens simultaneously.

A note on sodium: the anchovies and Maesri both bring significant salt. Low or no sodium tomatoes and stock are not optional here — they're what keeps the whole thing balanced. Taste before you add anything else at the end.

Lemon zest at the finish lifts everything. Butter rounds it. Don't skip either.

Original recipe and video instruction:

→ 6 Pro Chefs Make Their Favorite 5-Ingredient Soup | Bon Appétit — YouTube

The pleasure of eating something that tastes like something is its own floor-raiser.

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Peer reflection, not medical advice. Your body is yours — what works for me may not work for you.