A delicious, thick and creamy soup with complex flavors without the use of dairy, cream, and gluten.
No soup for you! (Seinfeld reference anyone?) I’m only kidding, you can have all the soup you want of course, especially with this soup recipe. Last week we talked all about the almighty cruciferous vegetable, cauliflower. Today, I’m sharing another one of my favorite recipes using cauliflower, Curry Cashew Cauliflower Soup. This soup combines many flavors ranging from hot, spicy, and bold from the curry and turmeric, sweet and nutty flavor of the cashews, with a hint of brightness from the citrus. The final result is a delicious thick and creamy soup with complex flavors, and without the use of any dairy, cream, gluten, and the like.
What Exactly is Curry?
Curry is simply a dish containing spices and herbs, with fish, shellfish, meat/poultry, vegetables, or can be vegetarian; these can be a “wet” or “dry” texture. Curry powder is a generic term for a spice blend containing ingredients such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, mustard seeds, cinnamon, red/black pepper, red chili, hot peppers, ginger, clove, cardamom, bay leaf, and fenugreek; in no specific ratio, recipe nor does it have to contain all of the above ingredients. The curry spice blends are more of a Western culture approach, as the Eastern cultures typically will make curries “on the spot” with not only taste preferences in mind, but may also be influenced by family culture, family tastes, tradition, religious views, and of course variations by region.
TIPS
- Optional // to roast 1 head and leave 1 head of cauliflower raw, but I love the depth of flavor roasting creates.
- Thickness // You may add in as little or as much liquid in the form of water or almond milk as you like; the more, the thinner the soup; the less, the thicker the soup.
- Curry blends // choose curry powders that will appeal to your tastes. They’re a variety of spice blends out there from sweet, mild, medium, hot, extra hot, Chinese Curry, African Curry, and Malaysian Curry.
- All of the spices used in this recipe are found in your local grocery store, even more discounted if you have a favorite local International market.
- Cashews // create a nice thick, creamy, and sweet texture/flavor profile to this soup. If you’re allergic or cashews simply aren’t your cup-o-tea, then replace with another nut/seed (walnuts, almonds, etc.).
- 2 small heads organic cauliflower (or 1 large head)
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- ¾ cup raw cashews (preferably soaked for 1 hour)
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1 small sweet onion, about 1/2 cup
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (sugar free use stevia)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon hot curry seasoning (sweet, hot, mild depending on how you like it)
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala (spice blend, optional)
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 juice of orange (or lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 glove garlic
- ¼ teaspoon of salt, to taste
- ground black pepper
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees F
- Roast cauliflower for 30 minutes or until golden brown and soft.
- In a pan, sauté onions with coconut oil and all the spices/herbs (curry, turmeric, salt, pepper, garlic, cinnamon).
- Pour all ingredients including roasted cauliflower into a high speed blender, food processor, or you can use an emersion blender (in a large pot).
- Blend until thick and creamy.
- Reheat on stove until warm/hot.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro, basil, or rosemary.
- Enjoy!
Have you tried curry before? What’s your favorite way to have curry? Share below!
Now go get CURRY-ed away making soup!
xo McKel
