Five Spice Beetroot Soup
An aromatic vegetarian beetroot soup perfect as a starter or serve for lunch with a green salad. Slightly modify the ingredients, and the soup is vegan.
Equipment
- Electronic digital scales
- Blender OR Hand held blender
- Conical Strainer OR Fine mesh strainer I prefer a conical strainer
Ingredients
- 3 Large Beetroot, Roasted [instructions below] 750 grams [about 1 1/2 pounds]
- 1300 ML Vegetable Stock [45 ounces] You probably won't use all of this, but keep it to hand
- 1 medium/large Red Onion, peeled and quartered 150 grams [5 ounces]
- 1 Knob Ginger Root, peeled and cut into quarters 10 grams
- 1 Large Garlic Clove, peeled 7 grams
- 2 Large Cleaned Celery sticks, roughly chopped approximately 95 grams, keep back some leaves for garnish [about 3 ounces]
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder more or less to taste
- Soured Cream/Creme Fraich OR plain yoghurt to finish
- Salt and white pepper to taste
Instructions
Roasting the Beetroot
- Preheat the oven to 205c. Top, tail and peel the fresh beetroot, and wrap in foil.Place the wrapped beetroot in a small baking pan/dish and fill 1/4 of the pan with water. Bake in the preheated oven for an hour + and check- when a knife easily inserts into the beetroot, it is cooked through.Remove from the oven, and gently open the foil and remove the beetroot to cool.
For the soup
- Place the red onion, ginger root, garlic and celery into a medium sauce pan and pour over some of the vegetable stock, until just covered. Cover the saucepan and let this simmer over medium/medium low heat until tender- depending on your temperature, about 20 minutes or so.
- When the temperature is safe to handle, blend the onion mixture. Place the conical strainer over a medium bowl and strain. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, push the mixture through the strainer to get all the juices. Discard the bits.
- Pour the strained liquid back into the blender, or if using a hand blender, add the roasted beetroot to the liquid and blend. [Note 1] Return to the heat and add your seasoning to taste. [Note 2]
- Ladle soup into bowls and put a generous dollop of either the soured cream/creme fraiche or plain yoghurt. [Note 3] Add some of the chopped celery leaves on top for the final garnish.
Notes
Note 1. You should have a fairly thick consistency here- blend it smooth, or leave a bit of texture to the soup.
Note 2. If the mix is too thick, add some stock, however, you want the end product to be slightly on the thick side.
Note 3. This dish can be vegan by substituting with a vegan yoghurt