Autumn has arrived and at lunch time, I have been in the mood for something a little more warming than a sandwich, so have been opting for soup. Pret do a lovely range and last week I had a delicious corn spicy soup nearly every day. At £2.99 a pop, I started to feel a bit poor and I especially resented spending the money knowing I can make 4-6 portions for roughly the same amount. Feeling inspired, I decided to try to re-create it and I am pleased to say I did a fine job. The recipe is below.
Serves 4-6
Freezing – Freeze once cooled – defrost over night or in microwave. I like to freeze individual portions so they are ready to take to work.
Ingredients
1 Brown Onion
3 Cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon Sunflower oil
3 Corn on the cobs (or 3 handfuls of frozen sweet corn)
1 Large potato
1 Inch of fresh ginger
1 Red chilli
3 Stalks of lemongrass
200ml Reduced fat Coconut milk (1/2 standard tin)
1 Litre of veggie stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Finely slice the onion, garlic and chilli
- Peel and grate the ginger
- Alternatively use a blender to chop the above ingredients
- Heat oil on a medium heat in a large pan
- Gently sauté the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger for about 10-12 minutes until onions are translucent – being careful not to let it burn
- While this is cooking, chop the potato into little cubes and set aside
- If you are using fresh corn, slice the corn off the cob and set aside with potato retaining the cobs
- If you are using frozen corn skip the above step
- Peel and chop the ends off the lemongrass and score it several times with a knife
- Add the potato, corn and lemongrass and stock to the onion mixture
- If you have fresh cobs add these too as they will add flavour
- Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 25 minutes
- Remove the lemongrass and corn if you used fresh corn
- Add the coconut milk and heat through
- Split the mixture in two and blend half until smooth
- Return the blended mixture to the unblended mixture and stir
- Serve – lovely with crusty bread
