mitzireddy

With the early morning air now starting to get nippy, thoughts of delicious warm soups come to mind. I had my first taste of Msio and Laksa soups when we were in London visiting our 2 daughters in the beginning of their winter last year. The eating places at the tube stations sold hot soup to go and my daughters introduced us to these spicy Asian soups.

In Japan, miso soup and white rice make up the central dishes of the traditional Japanese breakfast. The soup has been a favorite of commoners and royalty alike for many centuries according to wikipedia. I have to say that it is an acquired taste.

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup in Malaysia and Singapore. My daughters enjoy the laksa soup – its spicy and hot enough to take the chill off.

After all this build up about exotic Asian soups I am posting a recipe for the everyday tomato soup. I have been testing a few simple tomato based soup recipes with easily accessible ingredients for my daughters to try out and this combination of carrot, apple and tomato is unusual and deliciously light.

Its also the perfect starter for any meal.

CREAMY TOMATO AND CARROT SOUP

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Oil for frying

2 medium sized carrots, scraped and sliced

1 green cooking apple, cored, skinned and diced

500gr ripe tomatoes ( approx. +- 5 medium sized tomatoes) skinned and grated

1 litre ( 4 cups) chicken stock

2 ml ( ½ t) ground ginger

1 ml (1/4 t) nutmeg

1 ml (1/4 t) ground coriander

30 ml (2 T ) sugar

Pepper to taste

Salt

125 ml (1/2 c) cream

In a large saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in oil until soft.

Add the carrots and apple and stir fry for about 1 minute more. Add the grated tomato,chicken stock and all the seasonings, and simmer until the vegetables, are soft.

Blend in a food processor ( I used a stick blender). Correct the seasonings and add salt if necessary.

If serving the soup hot, heat through, stirring in the cream just before serving.

I got the recipe for the smoked snoek pie from the Ideas’ Domestic Goddess – my husband enjoys smoked snoek and this is one of his favourite dishes – definitely moreish. It’s very quick to put together – I made it for lunch when my friend popped in yesterday – she loved it.

SMOKED SNOEK PIE

1 roll ready-made puff pastry

10 ml olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

200g smoked snoek, flaked

250ml cheddar cheese, grated

4 large eggs

250ml cream

50ml milk, plus extra for top

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and line a 23cm pie dish. I prefer to blind bake the pie shell for approx. 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and green pepper. Sauté for three minutes. Remove the pan from the stove. Mix in the flaked snoek and the Cheddar, and place into the pie dish.

Whisk together the eggs, cream and milk until well combined. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper, and pour over the filling.

Brush the pastry with a little milk and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 30 minutes or until the filling is set.

Leave to cool slightly before slicing. Serve with a salad.