Test Recipe #4 - Indian Cauliflower Soup

Here is the fourth test recipe per my earlier post, Eating Suburbia: The Tables Are Turned. Today’s recipe is called Indian Cauliflower Soup. I have a Nepali friend who introduced me to curries and Indian and Nepali cuisine many years ago, to this day, he still supplies me with homemade Nepali curry that his mother sends over from Kathmandu. I use it to make dal, curried stews, and fish curry ala Raj. Curries are not a favorite food amongst my children, but true to their mother, they will always try what I make. This time was no different. In fairness to the recipe, however, I did use the standard Madras Indian Curry brand, as that is widely available and would lend itself to something that would be easy to replicate taste-wise.

INGREDIENTS: all ingredients can be found at your local store. Nothing unusual here.

PREP: I assembled all the ingredients and prep time was less than 15 minutes.

COOKING: this took about 75 minutes, with minimal intervention. Saute, add, bring to a boil, simmer, cover, add, simmer, add, serve.

TASTE: This is not a heavy soup, despite pureeing the ingredients. It would make a great lunch item, appetizer, or light meal served with papadums and a salad. The curry flavor is prevalent, but not overpowering and the family all tried the soup and liked it. The chef recommends serving it with mango chutney and sour cream, but we only used sour cream and I couldn’t find the chutney I thought I had on the shelf. I don’t think the sour cream is at all necessary as the soup is not spicy or hot.


Indian Cauliflower Soup

2 oz butter
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 cup yellow onion cut into ½ inch dice
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon chopped ginger
1 Tablespoon curry powder
2 pound cauliflower remove leaves, core, reserve 2 cups small florettes, chop the rest fine
2 ½ pints vegetable or chicken stock
1 medium russet potato peeled and finely sliced
1 can coconut milk
2 medium tomatoes cut into ¼ inch dice
2 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 lime zest and juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a four quart pot and melt the butter, add the cumin seeds, chopped onions, garlic and ginger and curry powder and cook on a medium heat until the onions are soft. Add the chopped cauliflower, liquids and potato and simmer for 45 minutes so that the cauliflower and potatoes are tender. Using a hand held blender puree the soup until smooth. Add the cauliflower florettes and simmer for ten minutes, add the diced tomatoes, cilantro and seasonings. Heat through for 5 minutes and serve.

Next on the list is Black Bean Chipotle Soup (daughter is testing) and French Onion Lyonnaise.