Spicy Thai Cauliflower Soup – Vegan Friendly

Guest post with recipe developed by Nicky Corbishley, the founder of Kitchen Sanctuary blog. http://kitchensanctuary.com

Nicky is also brand ambassador for NEFF, after winning the Cookaholic competition last year, and is currently helping gathering true and passionate cookaholics around the country to enter this year’s competition.  This is his second recipe to feature on my blog.

Neff is currently looking for new entrants to this years competition at:

http://www.nextcookaholic.co.uk

The Spicy Thai Cauliflower soup is actually vegan so a flavoursome option for vegetarians and vegans.

Spicy Thai cauliflower, coconut and lime soup

A deliciously spicy soup to warm you up from the inside. It’s vegan too!

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium red chillies, chopped (remove and discard the seeds if you don’t like it too hot)
• 1 x 3cm piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp lemongrass paste
• 1 heaped tbsp of fresh coriander stalks (save the leaves for garnishing)
• 1 ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk (full fat)
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
• 1 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
• Juice of one lime

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Place the cauliflower florets on a large baking tray.
2. Place 2 tablespoons of the oil, half of the chopped onions, the chillies, ginger, garlic, lemongrass paste, coriander stalks, turmeric, tamarind paste, cumin and paprika in a food processor, and pulse until you get a thick paste.
3. Spoon half of the paste onto the cauliflower florets, and rub the paste in using your hands.
4. Place the cauliflower in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan. Add the remaining chopped onions and fry for 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened. Add in the remaining curry paste and fry for a further minute.
6. Add the roasted cauliflower to the pan (save a few florets for garnishing) along with the coconut milk, stock, rice wine and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
7. Carefully blend the soup in the pan using a stick blender.
8. Divide the soup between four bowls and garnish with the reserved cauliflower, coriander leaves and some finely chopped chillies.