What do you do when your love brings you home 8 cauliflowers from the shop? You get creative and get chopping. Each cauliflower cost a rather expensive 1p each! Yes..1 whole pence! lol. I prepped and chopped up six of the little white clouds and lined two large baking sheets and scattered the pieces evenly over the trays and drizzled with rapeseed oil. I then threw them into the oven and left them to roast. Approx for 30 minutes. Ish?
I made a pate/spread and a pasta/veggie sauce with some and then decided to use the remaining cauliflower in a soup. But I didn't want to just blitz them up with stock...I wanted something a little different.
I basically opened my cupboards and my fridge and let my fingers guide me...and soon found my work surface filled with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, limes, red chilli, red onion, creamed coconut, and my old faithful chickpeas. Oh and one tin of chopped tomatoes. It came together very quickly from that point...the smell as it cooked was really good.
This is the perfect texture for My Love who likes soup thick and smooth. And it is definitely that. The roasted cauliflower really adds another level of flavour and the coconut makes it rich and indulgent. The chilli, lemongrass and ginger bring out the flavours further. This one is a keeper..lol Let me know what you think?
Update: We had the leftover soup a couple of days after I made it and the flavours had blended together to make the most delicious soup, I think I've ever created? We highly recommend you making it a couple of days before you need it as it just gets better with time. And we loved it the day it was made! lol. But two days later...Well..Oh.My! lol. ~R~
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| Rocket and Roses Cauliflower, Chickpea & Coconut Soup |
(Original recipe from the Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen)
2 red onions, peeled, quartered and sliced
1 tbsp Rotina Healthier Cooking oil or oil of choice
1 stalk lemongrass, minced
1 1" piece of fresh root ginger, minced
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 red chilli, minced - seeds left in for heat or remove..choice is yours! ~R~
1 14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
8oz boiling water
3/4 oz creamed coconut, finely chopped
1lb roasted cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 pint veggie stock
1 14oz tin chickpeas, rinsed well and drained
Juice of 1 quarter of a lime
Heat the oil in a soup pan and toss in the onion, garlic, lemon grass, ginger and chilli and saute for 5 minutes..stirring frequently.
Stir the creamed coconut into the boiling water and stir until it has dissolved.
To the soup pan add in the chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Then add the coconut/water mix. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 5 more minutes.
Then add the cauliflower, stock and the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and blitz until smooth.
This soup will give you four generous portions..
Enjoy!
~R~
