Tuesday 22 November 2011

Spiced Cauliflower soup with Chickpea Raita Topping

This lovely, gloriously green soup is packed with fresh herbs and flavour, and its also my third Video recipe in the Russell Hobbs Blogger VS Fans challenge that’s currently in progress over on Facebook!



This week I got to play with their Allure Jug Blender and I must say I am seriously impressed with this new shiny toy! I’ve used a couple of different blenders over the past few years, ranging in quality but this is a mighty beast! The key features for me are the pull out cord (which admittedly my brother discovered after the first use!) and the speed settings which are easy to control; always important for someone who doesn’t like to read instruction manuals! Another bonus is its little rubber feet that stop it dancing on the counter! Its a big machine, but its still pretty and shiny!DSC00818

Whilst the soup has a range of herbs and spices in, its not actually hot as in spicy heat. Regrettably I can’t tolerate much chilli nowadays and this is pleasantly mild but flavourful. If you would prefer a little heat, add a green chilli or two to the mix. The blender does a great job at making it really smooth, so no nasty gravelly bits which I’ve had in the past with other liquidizers!

Serves 6, Easy, Ready in under 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 a large or 1 regular sized cauliflower, cut into smallish chunks
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 medium sized potato, diced
1 bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black mustard seeds
40g cooked chickpeas
1500ml vegetable stock
Spray cooking oil or olive oil
S&P to taste

Topping:

40g cooked chickpeas
Pinch of garam masala

Raita:

120g plain natural yoghurt
1 small bunch fresh mint, roughly chopped

soup image

Start by sweating the onion in a large saucepan in spray oil, until soft but not too browned. Stir in the ground coriander, mustard seeds, turmeric and cumin, and potatoes, stir well, add the cauliflower, cover with the stock and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer for 15 minutes, stir in the chickpeas for final minute to warm through.

Meanwhile stir the mint into the yoghurt. In a small pan, add a teeny bit of oil, toast the chickpeas for a couple of minutes with the garam masala. Reserve to one side

Blitz the soup in the blender, until all lovely and smooth. You will need to do this in two batches – have a clean saucepan ready for transferring the soup back into, to keep warm. Season the soup, and ladle into bowls. Swirl in a little of the yoghurt and sprinkle over a couple of the chickpeas and a sprig of fresh coriander to garnish and serve. Some little naan’s would be lovely on the side but I forgot to buy any so had granary toast, which works equally well!

The soup will keep up to four days in the fridge and re-heats very well. In fact it reminded me I must buy a new portable soup container after accidentally melting mine at work the other week…

You can also watch me cook this recipe on Youtube:



Enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. Looks great, I had to laugh when I saw 'Allure' as all I could think about was Miranda and whether she had 'the allure' lol! Am envisioning you dancing in your kitchen with your blender too - is it me? Oh yes probably. Nice soup, and a good review.

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  2. This looks lovely, like the colour. Sounds like my perfect cauliflower soup; spicy flavours without the heat.

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  3. Sounds like a delicious soup, I love the hint of spice in there.

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  4. Ah Janice I don't think I've seen that episode, sounds funny! However I do frequently dance around the kitchen :)

    Thanks for the lovely comments, It really is a very easy but delicious soup, I hope you try it!

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Thanks for stopping by my kitchen! I love to hear your thoughts and comments on my recipes!

Anne

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