Of snow and spice...and all things nice

Snow gentleman

I met this gentleman on the right during this morning's dog walk- he did make me smile, looking all official with his tie.  Someone obviously had a lot of fun there...I really enjoy walking in the snow when it's for pleasure and Keith the dog was also very happy that it hadn't melted - he loves chasing snowballs.

Where's my snowball?

With it still being so wintery here, I feel another soup recipe is in order - and this is one comes with a twist.  It brings the humble potato to life with a hint of curry and coconut milk.  You can even use leftover mash for this recipe to make it an extra speedy lunch.  The addition of crunchy vegetables gives the dish extra texture and the spice is lovely and warming on a winter's day...although this can be enjoyed at any time of the year.   It could also easily be adapted by adding thin strips of cooked chicken or cooked king prawns at the end of cooking if you don't want it to be vegetarian.

Potato soup...

Potato Soup with Coconut Milk
A potato soup with a spicy twist – satisfying and great to use up leftover mash potato.

Ingredients (serves 4):
750g potatoes (or *mash if leftover)
1 medium onion
1 piece of fresh ginger (approx. the size of a walnut if you can picture that)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp curry powder
1 small tin unsweetened coconut milk (165ml)
600 - 800ml water (start off with the lesser amount and add to it if you need to adjust the consistency of the soup)
1tbps vegetable bouillon powder or ¼ vegetable stock cube
1 medium carrot, sliced into thin strips
2 sticks of celery, cut into small pieces
100g mangetout, sliced into thin strips
100g mushrooms, sliced
salt, pepper

Method:

1. Peel and cube the potatoes (if using raw ones) and peel and finely chop the onion and ginger.
2. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and briefly sweat the raw potatoes, onion and ginger before adding the curry powder.
3. Add the coconut milk as well as 600ml of water & vegetable bouillon/stock cube and bring to the boil. ((at this point you can add the mash potato if you are using this instead of raw potatoes)
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a separate pan and fry the sliced mushrooms for a couple of minutes before adding the rest of the strips of vegetables and frying all for another 4 -5 minutes or so.  Season with salt & pepper.  The idea is to leave a bit of crunch in the vegetables to give the soup additional texture.
6. Puree the potato/coconut mixture and adjust seasoning; then add the separately cooked vegetables and heat the soup through before serving.

Note: Add thin strips of cooked chicken or whole king prawns before heating the soup through if you don't want this to be a vegetarian meal.