What you'll need:
- A decent-sized pan
- Blender (any will do, although I prefer to pour it into a jug blender as I'm a liability with stick blenders and boiling liquid)
- Bowl
- Spoon
- A hungry tummy
Ingredients:
- 5 carrots peeled
- 5 parsnips peeled
- Any other root veg you want to include, squash or pumpkin can be a nice addition too. On the whole I'd say it works best when you've got at least half carrots with whatever else you want to add
- 1 med onion/ or 1-2 small onions or shallots
- Dash of olive or sunflower oil
- Tsp of each of : cinnamon, cumin, ground ginger, chilli powder (adjust according to your personal taste for heat - remember it's always worth starting small then adding more at the end but you can't take it out once it's in!)
- NOTE about spices: if you have got all these in your cupboard, fear not, so long as you have chilli and some seasoning it should still make a nice soup, however if you have all of them, even better!
- Handful of chopped fresh coriander (or a tsp of dried coriander if that's all you have)
- Tbsp of powdered veg stock (or you can use whichever veg stock pods or cubes you like)
- Salt to taste (although some veg stock brands are salty enough so you may be able to skip this)
- A squeeze of agave nectar or honey
- Water (a pint or so, we'll get to the reason for lack of number here later)
Instructions:
- Dice the onions, & peel and chop the veg into chunks. They don't need to be too finely chopped as we'll be blending later on!
- Pop the diced onion/shallot in a pan with the oil on a low heat until they start to brown (it's better to do this slowly so a) they cook through and b) you bring out their natural sweetness)
- Add the veg in and mix with the onions
- If you find the pan is already looking a bit dry you can either add a drop more oil or if you're conscious of using too much oil, just add splashes of water to keep the pan lubricated. The important thing is just to make sure nothing burns but that we're not boiling anything in the water yet as we want to try and bring out the natural sweetness of everything)
- Add your spices (apart from the fresh coriander) and mix so everything is coated
- Keep adding splashes of water until all the ingredients are in a little shallow pool rather than drowing - we only want to keep things lubricated at the moment rather than boiling all the niceness out of them
- Once the veg has started to soften, transfer to the blender and blend it (you may need to add a little more water to help it on its way
- Return to pan
- Now you'll be able to see the thickness & texture of the soup and from here, can add enough water to get it to your preferred texture. I love thick soup but I know some people don't as it reminds them of baby food - hence leaving it up to you to decide how much water you want to use. The only thing to be wary of is adding too much water because if the soup is too thin, it'll also probably be really bland!
- Once you've gotten it to the consistency you want, give it a taste and figure out how much of the extra ingredients to add as follows:
- If it tastes a bit bland, add the veg stock
- If the veg stock isn't that salty, add a little salt to taste
- If it feels like it still needs some additional sweetness (it can depend on how sweet the veg is you've used) add the agave nectar or honey
- If it feels like it needs a bit more spice, add a sprinkle more chilli powder
The trick is once you've returned it to the pan to keep tasting it and adding to it until you've got it to the right taste & consistency for your personal preference.
Finally, pour some in a bowl and serve up with a nice slice of crusty bread!
