Spices

Lemon & Rice Soup 🍋 🍚 🥣

/ Alex Grey

I am approaching the end of my November soup challenge. I did use previously posted soup recipes as part of the thirty days, but I will admit I have enjoyed creating mess in my kitchen and having soup at the end of it. Yesterday I used pasta, and today I’m using rice. Lemon is bloody lovely in savoury dishes, and this mishmash is inspired by asian cuisine, and I cannot wait to shove it in me gob.

Shit you’ll need:

  • 2cups of rice, doesn’t matter if it’s long grain or basmati, use whatever you have available.
  • 4tblspns of concentrated lemon juice.
  • 2tsp dried flaked chilli.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 1tsp ground ginger.
  • 1tsp garlic.
  • 1tsp cracked black pepper.
  • A chopped onion.
  • 2tblspns olive oil.
  • 1ltr vegetable stock.
  • 1 can of coconut milk (400g).

If you have fresh lemons, you could grate and add the zest into the mix, but I don’t so I’m using concentrated stuff.

Add everything to your slow cooker aside from the coconut milk. Allow it to cook through until the rice is softened, it will take a couple of hours most likely on auto. Add the coconut milk, and allow to heat through for another half an hour. If you want a spicier soup, increase the amount of chilli you use, or add some other hot stuff of your choosing. It’ll produce a beautifully aromatic and spicy filling soup.

Rice Pudding 🍚

/ Alex Grey

There is nothing more comforting than home made rice pudding during the winter months. It won’t surprise you to learn that I make it with my slow cooker, because of course I bloody do.

A photo of the pudding will be added further down when the batch is ready!

Shit you’ll need:

  • 500g pudding rice.
  • A can of evaporated milk approx 410g. Non dairy alternative: Oatly Oat cream 2 x 250ML.
  • A can of condensed milk approx 400g. (I use these in place of sugar, so substitute for 1 cup of sugar, or 1 cup of xylitol if you need it to be sugar free).
  • 50g butter. Can be substituted with coconut oil, or omitted if you wish.
  • 500ML milk, or 500ML of Oatly Whole Drink. It’s seriously creamy.
  • 2tsp nutmeg if you want it to be cooked with the pudding, OR you can sprinkle it on top of your servings after.

Put all your ingredients in your slow cooker, stir them up like SOME KIND OF MAD WITCH, and leave on auto setting for a couple of hours. Check it roughly every thirty minutes and give it a stir to make sure everything mingles properly.

Rice pudding cooking time is not an exact science, so when you are satisfied it has reached your desired consistency, eat it. If you feel you want to add more milk during the cooking process. Hot or cold it is fucking marvellous.

Parsnip Soup 🥣

/ Alex Grey

I fucking love roasted parsnips. This means I am using leftover ones to create this wonderful concoction. I have never made parsnip soup without first roasting them, so I erm….ROAST THEM FIRST! Or not, it’s up to you, it’s just I think they will taste nicer.

Previously well roasted parsnips.. 🤤

Shit you’ll need:

  • Some parsnips, obviously. I used a bag of Waitrose a little less than perfect brand, £1 for a 1kg. I love their a little less than perfect range, you can lots of fresh veg for waaaay less. I’m getting less and less able to chop stuff though 😦
  • Olive oil or butter.
  • 500ML vegetable stock.
  • 1tsp powdered garlic or equivalent.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 1tsp ginger.
  • 1tsp flaked chilli.
  • A chopped onion.
  • 400ML of coconut milk.

Chop up your leftover roast parsnips into small pieces, and dump them in yer slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut milk, and let them simmer their arses off in your slow cooker for a couple of hours on auto. Your kitchen will smell fucking amazing for the duration.

After those couple of hours have passed, pour the contents into a food processor, and whizz the fuck out of it whilst slowly adding the coconut milk. Serve with crusty bread, or just do what I did and drink it straight from a bowl like some manner of heathen. 😎

Peanut Soup 🥜🥣

/ Alex Grey

This also doubles as a sauce, and reminds me heavily of satay sauce in that medium.

Shit you’ll need:

  • 1 cup of peanut butter.
  • 500ML vegetable stock.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 1tsp cracked black pepper.
  • 1dstspn flaked chilli.
  • 1tsp powdered ginger.
  • 1tsp garlic powder.
  • 1dstspn of honey.
  • 1 cup of polenta.
  • 1/2 a cup of tomato purée.
  • A chopped onion.
  • A can of coconut milk 400ML.

You don’t need to add extra oil as your peanut butter will have enough in it already. Turn your slow cooker up to high, and combine the peanut butter with tomato purée in the bottom of your slow cooker until it heats up and starts to melt together. Add the honey and do the same thing. Pour the stock in, and stir slowly. There might be lumps that float around initially, but they will melt. Add the chopped onion, seasoning and spices, and turn the slow cooker down to auto for an hour.

After an hour, add the cup of polenta, and keep stirring it until the soup thickens up. Polenta is bloody brilliant for thickening up soups, and it’s versatile as fuck for other stuff. When that has melted in, pour on the coconut milk, and let the soup sit on low for another hour.

Enjoy as soup, or use it as a sauce for skewer foods, to pour over rice, or a sauce in a wok/skillet/variation thereof with chicken or a veggiesaurus equivalent.

Apple & Jalapeño Broth 🍎 🌶

/ Alex Grey

I have an abundance of apples at the moment, and a jar of jalapeños. I also have a horrible plague growing inside me, so this is going to be my MAGIC FUCKING POTION.

Shit you’ll need:

  • Some apples. They’re kind of important. I used four.
  • Chopped jalapeños – admittedly mine came in a glass jar pre chopped. I used about a quarter of a jar which is roughly 106g. If you don’t have any you can use dried flaked chillis instead, or some Tabasco sauce.
  • 500ML vegetable stock.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 1tsp thyme.
  • 1tsp rosemary.
  • 1tsp garlic.
  • A chopped onion.
  • 2tblspns olive oil.

This is designed to bite you in the arse. If you are an absolute masochist, add hotter peppers, but I won’t be doing that because I value my tastebuds.

NO PEELING THE APPLES, unless they’re cooking apples and then you should. Mine aren’t though so I didn’t. Chop them into chunks, and then dump them in your slow cooker along with everything else for a couple of hours on auto.

You sip this from a large mug or bowl. Don’t forget to wash your hands after handling the jalapeños, because if you rub your eyes or any other delicate parts, you’re going to feel like a twat when it smarts a bit.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Curried Banana Soup 🍌 🥣

/ Alex Grey

Not gonna lie. I’ve never made banana soup before. I’ve put banana in vegetable curries before, along with mango and courgette, and it’s worked really well, but not just soup. So here we fucking go..

It doesn’t look like much, BUT BY GODS IT IS FANTASTIC.

Shit you’ll need:

  • Some ripe bananas. I mean this shit isn’t going to work without them. I used four of the buggers.
  • A chopped onion.
  • 500ML vegetable stock.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 400ML can of coconut milk.
  • 1tsp garlic.
  • 1tsp garam masala.
  • 1tsp turmeric.
  • 2tblspns olive oil.
  • 2tblspns of lemon or lime juice.

You will also need a blender/hand blender/food processor-y whizzy thing. Yes that’s a technical term. Don’t argue.

This is also a bit fiddlier than other sooooooops. You will need to pre fry your onions in the olive oil and seasoning, spices, and your lemon or lime juice. When they have softened and caramelised, peel and chop your bananas. OBVIOUSLY you need to peel them first because well you’re going to look a bit daft if you don’t. Add the chopped bananas to the mix in the frying pan, and let the spices absorb and soften them a little.

Transfer the frying pan contents into your slow cooker, and pour the stock on top. Turn it up to high, and let it heat through until it starts to bubble. Once that happens, shove the contents into your whizzy thing with the coconut milk, and blend until smooth. You can then return it to the slow cooker, and allow it to heat on low until you’re ready for it. This will produce a thick satisfying soup.

Serve with a handful of flaked almonds on top, which are totally optional, duh.

Lentil & Butter Bean Soup 🥣

/ Alex Grey

I have an alarming amount of butter beans in my flat. I don’t mean just lounging around, or free range, they’re just hanging out in my cupboards. I have one can of them left, but most of my reserves are in dry format, they’re just sitting there in plastic film.

Anyway I digress.

You may wish to tweak the amount of chilli and pepper you use in this as it’s got a bit of a kick to it.

Before I added the stock, obviously…

Shit you’ll need:

  • A can of butter beans (400g approx). If you’re using dried ones, they will need to pre soak.
  • 1 cup of lentils. I am using green ones because I don’t have any red ones.
  • A can of coconut milk, 400g.
  • 1tsp flaked chilli.
  • 1tsp salt.
  • 1dstspn cracked black pepper.
  • 1tsp turmeric.
  • A chopped onion.
  • 500ML vegetable stock.
  • 2tblspns olive oil.
  • 1tsp garlic powder.

This is an easy one again. I mean, most of my soups are easy to be fair, but when all you have to do is dump all the stuff in a slow cooker and let it do its thing, that means it’s really fucking easy mate.

So please do exactly that. Now, because you need to let your lentils cook through properly, it’s going to need a couple of hours on auto. Keep your eye on it every half an hour just to make sure nothing sticks, and to stir it a bit. Never neglect your soup, it will be unhappy and we can’t have that.

It can also be served over rice too. That’s what I did the first time I made this.