Winter is here, which also means we welcome Soup Season!
Nothing beats a lekker warme koppie sop, it is comfort food at its best, especially on those ice cold, dark and stormy days.
The minute there’s grey clouds in the sky, I find myself making a big pot of soup to be enjoyed with a snytjie warm buttery toast.
Soup is an amazing starter to accompany a main, or perfect as a light meal on its own.
Whether you’re following a recipe or want to use up all the vegetables you have in your fridge, there’s no hard or fast rule when it comes to making soup.
If you have veggies, soup mix, lentils, barley, noodles, meat, soup bones or even chicken nekkies, toss them all in a pot, season with salt and pepper, top up with water, put it on a slow simmer and viola!
Cuisines all around the world have soup as part of their meals and as the flavours and textures change it comes with immense health benefits too.
If you weren’t well and needed something warm and light to comfort a sore throat, granny always made a magic pot of chicken soup.
Packed with veggies and made with love, this magic broth worked wonders and even now it will have you feeling better in no time.
Whether you like brown soups, white ones or creamy thick ones, winter is the best time to make a big batch of sop, portion and freeze, and on those lazy days, simply defrost and heat up.
I’ve shared some of my favourite soup recipes with you, but use them as a guide, you can use what you have at home and invent your own kind of comfort bowl.
Recipes
Chicken and Corn Soup
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 finely chopped onion
2-3 chicken fillets diced into small cubes
1 teaspoon barbeque spice
1 teaspoon white pepper
½ finely chopped red pepper
1 finely chopped green chilli
1 finely grated garlic clove
1 teaspoon garlic and ginger
2 finely grated large carrots
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley and/or celery.
1 litre cold water
1 packet white onion soup powder
1 packet cream of chicken soup powder
1 packet thick veg soup powder
1 cup frozen corn
2 tins cream style corn
2 litres milk
1 cup fresh cream
Method
Braise the onion in butter until golden brown.
Add the chicken, spices, pepper and chilli and braise for 5 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown.
Add the garlic, garlic and ginger, parsley/celery, carrots and corn and braise for1 minute.
Add the cream style corn, fresh cream and milk and stir well.
Mix the soup powders with cold water, until its smooth and lump free and add to the soup.
Stir continuously on a low heat until it boils.
Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
Roughly chop up
Half pumpkin (save some seeds)
1 onion
1 carrot
1 sweet potato
½ green pepper
Handful Celery and parsley
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp barbeque or Cajun chicken spice
Dash of nutmeg
Method
Add all the above ingredients to a large pot and braise until all the veg is golden brown and caramelized. (Don’t miss this tip it adds extra flavour)
Close the lid and turn down heat allowing the veg to sweat for 1 minute.
Top with boiling water and simmer, until all veg is soft.
Once soft liquidize until smooth.
Return to the pot and add either a ¼ fresh cream, ¼ dessert cream or ¼ ideal milk.
Simmer until it boils, stirring often.
Serve by Garnishing with freshly toasted pumpkin seeds and a sprinkle of fresh coriander.
Lentil Soup
Ingredients
¼ cup Olive oil
1 large Onion
3 grated cloves of garlic
1 cup red lentils (rinsed)
1 Butternut (peeled and cut in chunks)
2 grated carrots
1 large red pepper
1 handful parsley
1 handful celery
Dash of fresh lemon juice
2 litres water or veg stock
Salt to taste
2 teaspoon whole jeera (cumin seeds)
½ teaspoon crushed red chillies
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
*dry roast these spices in a hot pan and grind it fine in a mortar and pestle
Method
Braise the onion in olive oil until it’s translucent.
Add in the garlic and braise until the tips of the garlic start turning slightly golden brown.
Add in the spices, lentils and veg and braise for 3 minutes.
Add in the water and reduce the heat to low.
Simmer on a low heat for 35 minutes, stirring often.
Add a dash of lemon juice and salt to taste and blend with a stick blender or in a liquidizer until smooth.
Serve with a slice of lemon and a crusty or flat bread.
Butternut Soup and Chickpea Soup
Ingredients
1 tin chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
Roughly chopped up all veg below
1 large Butternut (save some seeds)
1 onion
1 carrot
1 large sweet potato
½ red pepper
Handful Celery and parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh cream (added last)
Crushed chillies for garnish
Method
Braise all your veg including ¾ tin chickpeas in
2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bbq or Cajun chicken spice
1 teaspoon white pepper
Dash of nutmeg
Braise until all the veg until its golden brown and caramelized. (Don’t miss this tip it adds extra flavour)
Close the lid and turn down heat allowing the veg to steam for 2 minutes.
Top the veg with boiling water and simmer until all veg is soft.
Once soft liquidize or use a stick blender and blend until smooth.
Return to the pot and add 1 cup fresh cream
Simmer until it boils and serve by garnishing with airfried or pan Roasted chickpeas (the remaining ¼ tin) and a sprinkle of crushed chillies
Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 small finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped green chilli
1 tsp garlic
3 tablespoons butter
2 chicken fillets cubed
1 punnet mushrooms
½ cup parsley
800 ml milk
1 ideal milk
1 mushroom soup
Method
In a blender, blend the soup powder, the milk, mushrooms and parsley.
In a pot braise the onion, chilli, garlic and chicken in butter.
Once the chicken is golden brown add the mushroom, milk, parsley and soup blend.
Add in your ideal milk and simmer, stirring continuously until it boils.