My New Year vegetable fiesta continues unabated. I hate waste, so one sure way of minimising it is to buy a whack load of veggies for the fridge.
On Monday, I made a Sweet Potato, Lemongrass and Coconut Soup. There were eight decent portions in there. We ate it again today and I froze the rest for two lunches at the weekend and two more next week. Heart-warming on these cold days, and exotic enough to make your body as though it’s in a warm climate.
The ingredients were included in the €20 I spent in Dunnes, which I used to make a White Bean and Roast Mediterranean Vegetable Pie with Basil Mash. I still had a lot left, which I used for a few more dishes; I’ll post information on these on Friday.
Like most soups, this very quick and easy to make:
Ingredients:
1 onion
½ a leek
1 carrot
1 stick celery
2 stalks lemongrass
150g block creamed coconut
5 medium sweet potatoes (or 8 small sweet potatoes)
A medium bunch of coriander
Butter
Salt
Pepper
1½ litres of vegetable stock (add less water for a thicker soup, or more if you like it thinner)
Instructions:
Chop onion, leek, carrot, and celery. Remove the outer layer from the lemongrass and chop into small pieces. With the lid on, sweat these vegetables in some butter on a low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, chop the sweet potato in even sized chunks.
When they have sweated, break up the creamed coconut into a few pieces. Add the coconut, sweet potato and stock. Bring to the boil, cover, and turn to a low heat. Let it simmer until the sweet potato is soft – usually no more than 20 minutes. Be careful not to let the soup boil as it will lose flavour.
Blend the soup and add fresh chopped coriander. Season with salt and pepper if necessary, and serve with some bread.