The cold weather seems, this week, to be well and truly drawing in on us - a fact my frozen toes can vouch for as I write! As we settle into the darker, chillier days that lie ahead in the coming months, there is something incredibly inviting about the thought of warming up over a steaming hot bowl of home-made soup for lunch.
A little tired of potatoes, leeks and lentils, I've been getting a tad experimental with my soup-making recently, with this Oriental (is it more Chinese? Japanese? I have no idea!) concoction proving my current favourite success story. I've been using tamarind paste in some Pad Thai-style noodle dishes recently and have become rather fond of its distinctly fruity, slightly sour taste, so felt inspired to incorporate it into a soup base. With the extra fruitiness of the white wine vinegar, contrasted with the saltiness of soy sauce and some ginger and chilli heat, the ingredients combine well to give a delicious, flavoursome, but not overpowering taste.
The following recipe gives me six decent sized bowls of soup and is suitable for vegetarians and can be both vegan-friendly and gluten-free, but be sure to check the labels on your white wine vinegar and soy sauce.
Ingredients:
(Weights of vegetables do not need to be this exact but have been included for a rough idea of proportions.)
Onion - 180g - finely diced
Garlic - 2 cloves - minced
Chilli flakes - 1/4 teaspoon (or more if you like a bit of heat)
Ginger powder - 1 teaspoon
Fry Light spray (or alternative oil)
Celery - 130g - diced
Carrot - 80g - julienned (cut into thin strips, yo!)
Broccoli - 120g - chopped into medium chunks
Savoy cabbage - 220g - roughly shredded
Optional Dry rice sticks (noodles) - a handful - broken into soup-friendly lengths
Spring onions - 40g - roughly chopped
Vegetable stock - 2 stock cubes
Soy sauce - 1 tablespoon
White wine vinegar - 2 tablespoons
Tamarind paste - 1 tablespoon
Salt, black pepper and coriander - to taste
Method:
- In a large pan, heat oil (I tend to cook with Fry Light, but you can use whatever best suits) over a medium heat and lightly fry onions, garlic, chilli flakes and ginger powder for around 5 minutes, until the onions are just browned.
- Add the celery and fry for another minute or two.
- Add the carrots, broccoli and savoy cabbage, along with the vegetable stock, bring to a gentle boil and simmer for about five minutes. (I dissolved two vegetable stock cubes in boiling water for my stock, but didn't take an exact measurement of water volume: enough to cover all the vegetables and a fraction more!)
- Add the soy sauce, white wine vinegar and tamarind paste; stir; and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are well cooked.
- If you're choosing to include rice sticks (noodles), add these about 5 minutes before the end of cooking. Add the spring onions towards the very end and allow them to cook for a couple of minutes so that they retain a bit of crunch.
- Season with salt, black pepper and coriander to taste and serve.
Et voila - a speedy, warming, tasty and healthy lunch!
xo
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