Yes it's Easter, but it's still cold. When the wind drops, the sun is warm on your face, but that chill in the wind reminds you that it is still March.
I am still in need of wintery food to keep me warm. The delicious salads I had in Palm Springs and planned to share with you, will have to wait a while.
I had some parsnips hanging about which needed eating. I had made some parsnip soup in the past, so decided I would experiment with some ingredients that I had in the fridge. A red chilli, some coconut milk (left over from a Thai curry) and an onion.
The result was a Thai inspired parsnip soup. I was quite surprised that the parsnip was so versatile that it could transform from a crusty old root vegetable into a flavoursome spicy asian soup.
So here's the recipe:
- knob coconut oil
- 1 large onion , peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger , peeled and roughly chopped ( or use a teaspoon of ground ginger)
- 4 parsnips , peeled and chopped into chunks
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 200ml organic vegetable stock
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 fresh red chilli , deseeded and finely sliced
- salt and pepper
Drop in the chopped parsnip and stir together so that everything gets coated in the oil and flavours. Pour in the stock, season well and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes with a lid on.
After half an hour, check that the parsnips are cooked by sticking a knife in. If you’re happy, remove them from the heat and carefully blend in the liquidiser. Return to the saucepan ,taste the soup to see if it needs a little more salt or pepper and stir in the coconut milk and reheat and serve with a sprinkling of diced chilli. If I had some coriander, then a sprinkling on the top would have been a good idea.
Who knew that parsnips are a useful source of vitamins C & E as well as folate. I had to look up what folate was! Here's the definition.
Folate is a water-soluble vitamin B-9 (it dissolves in water), which means your body is unable to store it for long periods of time. Your body's store of folate is usually enough to last four months. This means you need folate in your daily diet to ensure your body has sufficient stores of the vitamin. Folate aids the complete development of red blood cells.
It is different than Folic acid which is a synthetic compound used in dietary supplements and food fortification, whereas folate refers to what is found naturally found in food.
And as Folate is water soluble making a soup is a good idea as it makes sure you get the whole benefit of it in your diet.
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