As Winter approaches there can be no more comforting lunch than home made soup. Whether you are a carnivore or a vegetarian, they are a perfect lunch. If you want something more substantial you can add chick peas, white beans, pinto beans or kidney beans and serve the soup with hot wholemeal bread dunked in. I am drooling just thinking of it.
I normally take a bog standard vegetable soup mix and by that I mean, - whatever is in the fridge - it can include, carrots, onions, leeks, pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach frozen or fresh, sweetcorn, beetroot, parsnips, swedes, cabbage, chard, celery, or bok choy - I am sure that you get the idea. My flavouring include marmite, madras or vindaloo paste, soy sauce, chopped tomatoes, either canned or fresh, and fresh herbs such as cilantro, (coriander leaves) thyme, lemon thyme, or sage, I sometimes add fresh ginger. If I want bulk I normally use lentil which I tend to cook myself and usually microwave them separately as they can make the soup stick. I sometimes add white beans pinto beans or sautéed chick peas for bulk. I am a vegetarian, but for my husband I add corned beef, sausage, chorizo, black pudding, pieces of bacon etc. I hate potatoes in soup, but there is no reason you cannot add sweet potato, yam, kūmara, or potato. Sometimes I add oats or oat flour as a thickening agent, or a cardamom or vanilla flecked sweet potato purée as a garnish.
Below is an example of a soup with Asian flavourings, for Italian I would still use a little Cinnamon but use fresh sage, basil or oregano, for a Chinese ginger is great with soy and sometimes honey.
A typical Soup.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, diced,
2 ribs celery, diced,
1 parsnip, diced,
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 cabbage, diced,
2 inch slice of ginger, chopped,
2 cups yellow split peas, rinsed and soaked,
fresh red chilli,
1 small cinnamon stick,
2 fresh bay leaf or dried curry leaves,
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon Vindaloo paste,
vegetable stock
Freshly ground Pepper
Method.
I cook the lentils separately and then steam the vegetables, add lentils and finish off handfuls of a green vegetable, spinach, chard, whatever is to hand, and then with sour cream, Crème fraîche Greek Yogurt, aged Manchego cheese, freshly grated Parmesan or the sweet potato purée
Sweet Potato Purée
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds boiled or roasted sweet potatoes,
3/4 cup of Crème fraîche,
garlic,
1/3 vanilla bean, split lengthwise with the seeds scraped
Or the seeds of about 20 lightly roasted cardamoms,
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
freshly ground black pepper
a dried red chilli (optional)
Method
Roast the potatoes add the creme fraîche, garlic, vanilla, orange zest, pepper and chili. Serve the soup with a generous dollop on top.
