Root Soup

There is nothing quite like a hearty soup and crusty bread in mid-winter. And this soup must be at least 2 of your 5-a-day, and, if you eat enough of it, possibly all 5. What's more, it's frugal, and all the more so if you use the recipe to use up slightly tired vegetables from the back of your fridge. (Note: I am not suggesting you eat anything mouldy, or that smells questionable. Just veggie remains that would otherwise be thrown away, as less than appetising as features on their own.)

Equipment:

Kitchen knife
Chopping board
Garlic crusher
1/2 gallon cooking pot with lid
Cooker, 1 fast ring
Hand blender

Ingredients (4 generous servings, and a bit left over for stock):

50g butter
3 rashers of bacon, chopped small
2 onions, chopped fine
2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
2 sticks of celery, chopped fine

2 carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
1/2 swede, diced
2 parsnips, diced
1 potato, diced
(or, any other combination of diced root vegetables, to the weight of 1kg)

1 cup pearl barley
2 litres of boiling water
1 tsp each of dried parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Fresh ground salt and pepper, to taste.

Method:

Melt the butter in your pot. Add the bacon, onions, celery and garlic. Fry gently until the onions are soft. Add the diced root vegetables, pearl barley, water and herbs. Simmer, covered on a low heat, for an hour or so, or until the pearl barley is soft, adding extra water as necessary. Towards the end, blitz with a hand blender briefly, but leaving some chunks for texture.

Serve with granary bread for dunking.

Best, 2ndRateMind

Rasam Robert

Indian restaurants and takeaways don't seem to do soup, in this country, which is a shame because there are some very fine Indian soups. Mulligatawny is well known, of course, but there are many others. This one is my budget-friendly take on a soup I first had at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai, back in the days when I had work. This makes two generous servings.

Equipment
Spice grinder or mortar and pestle
Kitchen Knife
Garlic Press
Chopping Board
Medium Saucepan
1 Cooker ring
Hand blender
Can opener

Ingredients
400g tin chopped tomatoes
100g coconut block
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic
1 tbs oil or ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cardomom seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
a few clove buds
1 tablespoon crushed, dried chillies (or vary, to taste)
2cm length ginger root, very finely chopped.
1 litre boiling water, plus extra as needed.
salt and pepper to taste.

Method.
Grind your spices. Dry fry briefly and then add the oil or ghee. Add the onions and garlic, and let them sweat for a minute or two. Add the tomatoes. Dissolve the coconut in half the water, and then add that, too. Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked, adding more water as you go if required, and then blitz with your hand blender. Add the remaining half litre of boiling water, stir, and you're pretty much done.

Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves, if you have access to any at a cost effective rate.

I hope you like this as much as I did, the first time I sampled it.

Best wishes, 2ndRateMind.