More January recipes for soups? Yes, but some cliches are cliches for a reason. Soups really are what our bodies and our wallets need right now, being gentle on both. Here are three I’ll be cooking this month: a quick, green one; a heartier, yellow-orange number; and a deep red one for those days when a pan can be left to sit happily on the stove for three hours. Red, orange, green: let’s go!
Spinach and dulse soup (pictured above)
How to make a healthy spinach soup even greener? Add seaweed, of course. Any dried seaweed works here: dulse, wakame or torn-up nori sheets.
Prep 15 min
Cook 35 min
Serves 4
For the croutons
110ml olive oil
1 lemon – zest finely grated, to get 1 tsp, and juiced, to get 1 tbsp
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 loaf sourdough (500g), crusts removed and torn into bite-sized pieces (300g)
Flaked sea salt
For the soup
100ml olive oil
2-3 onions, peeled and thinly sliced (300g net weight)
10g piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
5 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 hot dried chilli, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 litre hot water
Salt and pepper
50g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
15g dill, roughly chopped
400g baby spinach
15g dried dulse (or any other dried seaweed – wakame, torn nori sheets etc)
2 lemons – 1 juiced, to get 2 tbsp, the other cut into wedges, to serve
Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/gas 9.
First, make the croutons. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and garlic, then toss the pieces of sourdough through the mix to coat. Spread out the bread on a large oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, and bake for about 12 minutes, until golden brown – some of the edges may be darker than others, which is fine. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with flaked salt and set aside.
Now for the soup. Put the oil, onions, ginger and garlic in a large saucepan for which you have a lid, and set it over a medium-high heat. Fry, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add the chilli, tomato paste, turmeric and cumin, and fry for three minutes more, scraping the bottom of the pan to stop the tomato paste from sticking and burning.
Add the water, two and a half teaspoons of salt and a good grind of pepper, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the coriander, dill, spinach and dulse, cook, stirring, for three minutes more, until all the greens have wilted, then take off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Serve hot with the croutons and lemon wedges.
Dal pita
Across parts of Asia, pitha refers to a dough. In Mauritius, where this recipe is from (thanks to our new test kitchen colleague, Chaya), the h is dropped to make it pita. Traditionally, this noodle dough is freshly made while the dal is cooking. For new year’s ease, dried lasagne sheets (or any dried pasta in need of using up) work really well as a substitute.
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr 20 min
Serves 6
200g chana dal
200g yellow split peas
100ml olive oil
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped (300g net weight)
6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
5g fresh thyme, stalks and all
4 stems curry leaves, picked, to give 40 leaves (5g) in total
2 hot dried chillies
1½ tsp black mustard seeds
1½ tbsp cumin seeds
1½ tsp ground turmeric
Salt and black pepper
200g lasagne sheets, roughly broken into bite-sized pieces
For the grilled tomato salsa
6 ripe vine tomatoes (900g)
100g banana shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 hot red chillies, cut into thin rounds
3 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
50ml olive oil
30g coriander, roughly chopped
Wash the chana dal and the split peas under cold running water until the water runs clear. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plenty of hot water and leave to soak for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the oil in a very large, high-sided saucepan and place on a medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, curry leaves and dried chillies, and fry gently, stirring frequently, for 14 minutes, until lightly golden. Add the mustard, cumin and turmeric, fry for another minute, then drain the dal and split peas and add to the pan with two and a half litres of boiling water and a tablespoon of salt. If your pan isn’t big enough to hold all the water at once, hold some back and add it later, once some of the water has been absorbed.
Turn the heat to high – the soup should be rapidly simmering – and leave to cook for an hour, stirring occasionally and skimming any scum off the top with a slotted spoon.
Meanwhile, make the salsa. Heat a griddle on a high heat, add the tomatoes, and char, turning regularly, for 20 minutes, until the skins are blackened and blistered all over. Set aside to cool.
Put the shallots in a medium bowl with the garlic, chillies, lemon juice and two and a half teaspoons of salt, then mix together with your fingers, crushing the shallots lightly in your hand.
Peel off and discard the tomato skins, then roughly chop the flesh. Add to the shallot bowl with the oil, a good grind of pepper and the coriander, mix well, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Using a potato masher, lightly crush the dal, taking care not to mash it completely. Add 500ml boiling water to the pan, then add the lasagne and cook, stirring often so the lasagne sheets doesn’t stick to each other, for 16 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the lasagne sheets from sticking together.
Ladle into bowls, spoon over some of the salsa and serve the rest alongside.
Slow-cooked shin soup with pomegranate and beetroot
This is somewhere between goulash and borscht, with the addition of the spicy, smoky overtones of chipotle chilli and the sour-sweetness of pomegranate. The meat needs three hours in the pan, so get it going in good time.
Prep 20 min
Cook 3 hr 15 min
Serves 4
500g boned beef shin, lamb shank or pork ‘osso buco’, sinew removed and cut into 4cm pieces
500ml 100% pomegranate juice
500ml chicken or beef stock
500ml water
4 beetroots, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks (700g)
100g creme fraiche or soured cream, to serve
For the chilli paste
2 tsp chipotle flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp chilli flakes
100g tomato paste
5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
½ onion, roughly chopped
60g pancetta cubes
75ml olive oil
2½ tsp salt
For the herby croutons
25g chives, finely chopped
15g dill, finely chopped
120ml olive oil
½ tsp salt
150g sourdough bread, toasted, crusts removed and cut into 3cm pieces
Put all the paste ingredients in the small bowl of a food processor, blitz to a smooth paste, then scrape into a large, cast-iron pot for which you have a lid. Add the meat, set the pot on a high heat and fry for seven minutes, stirring every now and then; turn down the heat to medium if the meat or paste begin to catch and burn. Pour in the pomegranate juice, stock and water, add the beetroot, then bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the pot and leave to cook for three hours, until the meat is completely tender.
Meanwhile, make the croutons. In a medium bowl, mix the herbs with the oil and a half-teaspoon of salt, then add the toasted bread and mix until it’s completely coated in the green oil.
Divide the soup between four bowls, top each serving with a generous spoonful of the creme fraiche, finish with the herb croutons and their oil, and serve.
