This post is part of the Food Matters Project, a cooking collaboration among participating bloggers. Each week, we will cook a recipe from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters Cookbook, which places an emphasis on mindful and sustainable eating. Follow along with us!

The Food Matters Project choice for this week had me excited from the get-go: Curried Tomato Soup with Hard-Boiled Eggs. I like eggs. I like eggs boiled even more. I like tomato soup. I like curry in my tomato soup even more. The write-up by Mr. Bittman is right up my personal palate alley, too, based on the traditional makhani soup, a staple in Indian cuisine known for its spicy and sweet flavor profile. Spicy and sweet, yes I can dig it, almost as good as salty and sweet in the opposites attract category.

The recipe calls for a medley of chopped veggies, coconut milk, and mix of spices; the recipe ingredient list is long. Luckily the soup itself is easy as can be, really a slice and dice throw-it-in-the-pot and wait kind of a deal. As always, the Bittman recipe is only a guideline. The food matters, but the nuts and bolts of reaching the end result are flexible! I let the stew simmer on a lazy Sunday night and then set the dish rest overnight before re-heating it for a triumphant got me through my Monday night meal.

For the most part, I stuck to the recipe. I used water instead of vegetable broth and instead of cauliflower I subbed in a mixture of vegetables ranging from frozen lima beans to diced celery to diced carrots to pearl onions in addition to the whole onion the recipe calls for. I also chose to use sweet potatoes instead of all-purpose potatoes because who doesn’t love super foods?

The end result was a lovely and fragrant thick stew with a welcome after-kick. The subtle wave of heat set in after each and every slurp, calling my spoon back into the bowl (and yes I slurp my soups because it tastes better)! The coconut milk with its inherent sweetness provided the perfect balance to the otherwise spicy flavor, a neat little mixture of tastes and textures. And the best part, this stew only gets better with age. You will love the slight curry scent this dish graces your apartment with almost as much as you will love the soup itself, and love the soup you will!

The recipe is posted by Joanne over at Eats Well With Others, and you can head here to see what other FMP members did with it!

Sarah Buchanan is a senior at NYU where she studies history and creative writing. When she is not planning her upcoming June wedding or daydreaming about her Antigua honeymoon, she is searching for the city’s best pickles!