soups

Fresh Ginger Soup

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:36:23 +0100

Ingredients :
1 1/4 litre vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup cabbage very finely chopped
1/2 cup carrot very finely chopped
1 spring onion with greens, very finely chopped
1 tbsp. fresh ginger very finely chopped
1 clove garlic very finely chopped
1 tbsp. fresh lemongrass shoots very finely chopped
1 green chilli very finely chopped
1 tsp. soya sauce
1 tsp. brown vinegar
1 tbsp. cornflour
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. oil

Method :
Dissolve cornflour in 1 cup cooled stock, keep aside.Heat oil in a saucepan, add ginger, chilli, garlic, lemongrass.Add all chopped veggies, stir fry for 2 minutes on high flame.Add hot stock or water, bring back to a boil.Add dissolved cornflour, sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot and fresh with light garlic buttered rolls or breads.

Making time: 20 minutes
Makes: 5 servings

Black Bean Soup

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:34:04 +0100

Ingredients :
2 medium-sized onions
2 large carrots
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (jarred garlic is fine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
8 oz. chicken broth (or substitute vegetable broth to make this vegetarian)
water
1 bouillon cube
3 cans black beans
3 bay leaves
1 dried whole chipotle chile (not canned!)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chile de arbol
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
salt

Method :
Put the olive oil & butter into a large soup pan over medium to medium-high heat. Peel & chop the onion; wash & chop (or peel and chop) the carrots. (Note: coarse chopping is fine). Add the onions & carrots to the by-now-hot olive oil & butter. Saute for 8-10 minutes, until the onion is translucent & the carrot beginning to soften. Add the garlic & saute 2-3 minutes more.

Add the chicken stock, bouillon, and about 1/2 cup of water. Bring the soup to a simmer. Drain & add the black beans (no need to drain them perfectly, and do not rinse them - adding a little of their liquid to the soup is fine).

Add the bay leaves, dried whole chipotle chile, chile de arbol powder, chipotle chile powder, & vinegar. While the soup simmers, wash & finely chop about 3/4 cup of fresh cilantro. You'll use this as a garnish.

To finish the soup, just blend it. Before blending, remove the 3 bay leaves & the 1 dried chipotle chile (throw them out, you're done with them). If you have a hand-blender, you can puree the soup right in the pot. Be sure to keep the blender blades submerged in the soup so it does not splatter across your kitchen. If you don't have a hand-blender, pour the soup into a regular blender and blend it that way.

Taste the soup - does it need more liquid or salt? Add water and/or salt as-needed.

Serve in large bowls, garnished with the chopped cilantro.

Strawberry+Vanilla soup

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:06:30 +0100

Ingredients :
500g strawberries
1 small Vanilla pod
450ml apple/cranberry juice
1-2 tablespoons clear honey or to taste
mint sprigs to serve

Method :
Hull the strawberries and roughly chop the berries.Cut the vanilla pod in half length ways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of the knife
Put the strawberries and vanilla seeds and pod into a bowl.add 150ml of juice,cover and leave to stand for an hour for the flavours to infuse.
Remove and discard the vanilla pod.Put the strawberries ,marinade and honey into a food processor and blend.Add the rest of the juice and blend once more.chill until needed.
Serve cold in large bowls topped with mint sprigs.

Frozen veg soup

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:05:12 +0100

Ingredients :
1 bag of mixed frozen veg
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Basil
Tomato Puree
Garlic Puree
3 Veg Stock Cubes
Ketchup
1 onion
salt
pepper
Worcestershire Sauce
Water

Method :
First chop the onion into eights, they don’t need to be equal as they will be blended later. Empty the frozen veg into a stock pot, or just a massive pan and add all the ingredients in with it. With the puree, Worcestershire Sauce, and ketchup, you only need a bit so only a squirt of each will do. Sprinkle about a half a hand full of basil in and season with the salt and pepper. You may want to crumble in the stock cubes but it doesn’t really make any difference. Once all the ingredients are in, cover with water until there is about 5cm of water above the ingredients. Put on a stove and heat on a medium temperature for about an hour-hour and half. After this time blend the soup together using a hand held blender, or you can use a normal blender. Your soup is now done. You can add cream if you like or eat it like that. It will last for about 2 days on the stove and then another 2 days in the fridge.

Tomato + Pepper soup with Garlic Bread

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:04:12 +0100

Ingredients :
1 tin tomatoes
4 fresh toms - peeled
1 stock
1 onion - peeled + finely chopped
2 gloves - peeled + chopped
good glug olive oil
1 red pepper
dash milk
seasoning
crunchy bread
another clove garlic - peeled + chopped
spoonful butter

Method :
fry the onion + garlic in a pan with the olive oil
once sizzling + the rest of the ingredients - simmer for 30 mins or so
get your bread and spread the garlic + butter on
serve with the soup once cooked - easy peasy

Mushy pea soup!

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:02:46 +0100

Ingredients :
1 can of mushy peas
1 egg
2 table spoons of double cream
half a cup of hot water
salt & black pepper to your taste!
toast

Method :
Boil or poach your egg so that it is soft inside (that takes about 3 minutes of boiling) while the egg is cooking empty your can of mushy peas into another sauce pan, add the cream and hot water and use the ricer to mush it up even more (as if you are making potato mash) season with salt and pepper. Peal the egg serve the soup and drop the pealed egg in. To make it more exciting you can add a bit of soy sauce.

Veg Soup

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:00:42 +0100

Ingredients :
2 Carrots
1/2 Turnip/Swede
1 Leek
(any other veg you want/have - try parsnip, sweet potato, celeriac, mushrooms)
1 Sml Onion
1 clv Garlic
Veg Stock
Butter
Salt and Pepper

Method :
Peel and Dice up veg, as chunky as you want the soup, but finer works better.
Heat about 1 tbsp butter in a large pan.
Add all veg and soften for about 5 minutes, stirring.
Add veg stock/water to cover the veg by a good inch.
Season well, Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30-45mins/until veg is cooked.
(blend and return to heat if desired - or just leave chunky)