Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Keralan Prawn Soup I have been longing to make this Keralan prawn soup by Roopa Gulati! It needed a special occasion and the occasion was the older offspring's last home-cooked dinner before returning across the water. In her introduction to the recipe Roopa writes: "This fragrant soup takes the best ingredients from a cottage garden in the southern Indian state of Kerala." I'm not sure that you'd find king prawns or coconut (milk and cream) in your Keralan cottage garden, but perhaps you would find mustard seeds, coriander (seeds and leaves), fenugreek seeds, red chillies, garlic, root ginger, curry leaves, onions and lime. For everything else, go to your Keralan shops. Keralan prawn soup This was one of those recipes where most of the effort goes into the preparation. I had to roast then grind peppercorns with the three different types of seeds. After that I chopped and processed the red chillies, garlic and ginger. Then the real cooking began: the cur...

Whipped Yogurt Soup with Sauteed Courgette Two days ago I was a little disappointed with Roopa Gulati . Today her reputation is being rehabilitated. I had a day off work and was in the mood for making soup. I've had my eye on this yogurt soup recipe for a while. And now that I have tamarind pulp and curry leaves, I was good to go. The other ingredients include dried red chillies, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, gram flour, turmeric, Greek yogurt, coriander leaves, onion, courgette and a green chilli. So I lined up my spices, diced the onion and courgette, and finely chopped the green chilli. Then it was time to start cooking. When the oil was hot I threw in the chillies and mustard seed. Next in were the fenugreek, cumin and curry leaves. I remembered reading somewhere that curry leaves will spit when thrown into hot oil: I was not disappointed by the miniature firework display in my wok. Next in was some gram flour followed by turmeric. The next stage was tricky because I did...

Curried Parsnip Soup I do not like parsnips . There. It's out in the open. I don't like them boiled and mashed with or without carrots, nor do I like them coated in Parmesan cheese and roasted. Just in case you missed it the first time, I don't like parsnips. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when twenty years ago I reluctantly ate curried parsnip soup served as the first course of a wedding meal and I liked it. So I had great expectations of yesterday's soup. According to Sophie Grigson 's introduction to it in The Soup Book , Jane Grigson created the recipe in the 1970s and it was deemed "radical at the time". The ingredients include coriander seeds, cumin seeds, chilli flakes, ground turmeric, ground fenugreek, an onion, garlic, parsnips, stock and cream, with either chives or parsley to garnish. I ground up the spices in my pestle and mortar before peeling and chopping the onion, garlic and parsnips. Then I cooked the vegetables in butter, adding t...

Curried Broth with Peppers  Today is a lovely sunny day in early June but I have chosen to make a hot curried soup. I was pondering what to make for dinner this evening and the spouse said that we had a lot of vegetables in the fridge. I knew there were quite a few peppers so checked in The Soup Book to see how I could use them up. This soup is based on yet another recipe by Roopa Gulati and contains star anise , nigella seeds , fennel seeds, fenugreek seed s, onions, root ginger, an orange pepper and a yellow pepper, basmati rice , turmeric, garam masala , vegetable stock, date palm sugar , lemon and coriander leaves. If you can't find nigella seeds, there are a few spices or herbs you can substitute for them. I didn't use a substitute for the nigella seeds, but I did for the date palm sugar - I just used dark brown sugar and hoped for the best. The different seeds smelled delicious as I fried them together before adding the onion and ginger. Star anise is a new addition...