Soups Archives

This Friday after work I went right to my next job – volunteering as a photographer for Ladies Rock Camp here in Seattle. While the rest of my co-workers were talking about how tired they were, I was bragging and doing leaps of joy that I was going to be on my feet for the rest of the day. I love Rain City Rock Camp for Girls. It’s my therapy. I love the work that we do and the environment we’re creating for girls and women to go through these amazing life-altering transformations. I’ve witnessed it and it’s magical. The part that brings me the most joy is that every woman and girl is encouraged to be 100% themselves without any fear of judgement. There are no expectations to be perfect and you are given the tools to tackle almost any real-world problem by other badass-at-life women. How often do you see that?! All you need to do is say “YES” and you can be one of us. If you’re in Seattle and you want to Power Up! and Activate! with RCRC, this is your chance. There are opportunities for volunteers for 2 week-long summer camps available right now. Here’s where you can sign up. Oh and in case you were wondering: You don’t need to have music experience.

Now for some things I’d love to discuss more in the comments/or in real life if you’re up for it.

– I can be an introvert and still make an impact: I’ve seen a lot of people put away their ability to interact with others in some of the most important situations only because they feel that it’s just their personality and “what could I possibly do to affect change!?” I was one of those people. I took the label and went with it because it gave me comfort. I was happy to let others talk. I didn’t think I had much to add, knowing that deep down it wasn’t even the truth. I have so many gifts and I want to share them all. Sometimes it’s overwhelming because I’m required to turn whatever I thought about myself as true, on its head. But I do it because I want to be a better person. I am more than just an introvert. Life isn’t about doing what makes you comfortable. That job is reserved for mac and cheese.

– Self-care/love is a radical act: This.

– And speaking of self, here’s a little bit about Anita Hill, a lady I’m glad I now know about: “Testifying has helped me understand that one individual’s behaviour and actions make a difference. That my actions are important to people other than myself.” You can watch a documentary about/named after her on Netflix.

What are your views about “self” and the whole being an introvert pride? If I’m with one person, I tend to put them first. If I’m around many, I hide in the background and am happy to let others lead me around. BUT deep in my heart, I know that I want to be known for more than just being quiet. I’ve always been told by Matt, my friends and family that I need to share my creative talents, yet this “self” (whom I have a love-hate relationship with) that dictates my interactions has been holding me back. I have things I want to do! Being shy isn’t going to help that. I love taking downtime, don’t get me wrong. But once I’ve recharged, I would like to take on the world with more gusto. Hey new me! Happy almost birthday.

Which brings me to mango season (not sure how) – a season that’s non-existent in Washington. But it is in Goa and maybe Mexico. I’m lucky that we get mangoes for sale at grocery stores here. I don’t buy them often but when I do, I feel extra super-Goan. I know how to cut them, how to eat them around the seed and make a whole mess of my clothes doing so. Every time I do, I feel like I never left home. Sometimes it’s okay not to buy local, I think. You just have to trust yourself.

Sunchoke mango soup

Notes

My way of picking the best mango for this soup is to look for one that almost yellow but that still has some green on the skin. If you press it, it should be hard but not so hard that you can’t cut through it. Almost ripe mangoes have that sweetness but are still somewhat sour, giving your food that perfect sweet-sour balance.
This was my first time cooking with sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes. They are hard to peel but all the best foods are! If you aren’t using them immediately once you peel and prep them, place them in a bowl of cold water to prevent discoloration. If you aren’t planning on peeling them, scrub the mud off them and use the same way. The peel might make your soup look a little different but it shouldn’t affect the taste.
My food processor is teeny tiny so I needed to puree the soup in 2 batches. This meant nothing except I had to divide the cream into 1/4 amounts while blending.
My 2-part ingredients list has a part just for something we call “tadka” or tempering. Here is NPR’s explanation of it. You will need to use oils that can withstand high temperatures. I used bacon fat because it was just sitting there in a pan across from me all morning. I’m crazy. You do you.
This soup can be served warm or cold. If you’re going to eat it as a cold soup, make the tadka just before you serve it up. It cannot be made in advance. The best part is, it takes less than a minute once you have all your ingredients in front of you.

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 stalks spring garlic, cut in rounds (or you can use 2 cloves garlic)
2 cups sunchokes, peeled and chopped evenly in 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup almost-ripe mango, skin removed and diced
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut milk (optional)
Pea sprouts, to garnish

For the tadka

2 tbsp bacon fat or coconut oil or ghee
2 tsp black mustard seeds
4-5 dried red chillies (I used chile de arbol)

Place a soup pot on medium-high heat. Once the pot heats up evenly, add 2 tbsp of oil to it. Wait for a minute and add the onion and spring garlic to the oil. Give them a light stir every now and then until they soften a bit. Next add the sunchokes and give it a big stir so that it’s well coated with the oil and onion-garlic flavours. Let it cook for just a minute and then add the diced mango. Stir to combine and let it all cook for 2 minutes. Add the chilli powder and ground turmeric, mix it all together and breathe. It’s going to taste amazing. Add the vegetable or chicken stock into the soup pot and bring to a simmer on the same medium-high heat. Once the stock starts to simmer, turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Place a lid on top of the pot, leaving a slit open for steam to escape. Let the soup cook for about 20 minutes, until the sunchokes are just tender. Once that happens, take the pot off the stove and let it cool slightly before blending.

Pour half the contents of the soup pot into a high speed blender or food processor. Add the cream or coconut milk if using (it tastes good with either or neither) and blend until it turns to a smooth puree. Once you’ve pureed all the soup, add it back to the and add salt to taste. Let the soup warm up.

While the soup is doing its thing, place a pan on medium high heat. Have all your other ingredients for the tadka ready because you’ll be adding them in quick succession. To the pan, add 2 tbsp of bacon fat or coconut oil or ghee depending on what you’re using and let it heat until it starts to almost smoke. Quickly add the mustard seeds. They should start to pop immediately. Wait 5 seconds and then add the dried red chillies. Stir constantly and fast, being very careful (hot oil/popping mustard…all fun stuff) for about 10 seconds more and then take the pan off the heat. Spoon the tadka – oil and everything – on top of the soup. Mix it all into the soup, garnish with pea sprouts.

I told him about our new house two weeks ago and I finally heard back from him. It sounded celebratory and slightly more congratulatory that I was hoping for. Immediately, I ducked. I said (like I’ve been saying a lot) that it’s not a big deal and I’d like very much for it not to be made one. I wasn’t preaching or forcing ways for people to feel. I still feel a lull. It’s always been this way come major life changes. I’ve heard of people taking photos of their new house keys, smiling so big that they did it! They made this wild decision and they saw it through. They ought to have a photo to remember it. Our keys were placed in the box that lets us open the garage door from the outside. It was that exciting.

I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about the time I got married. I planned every single part of it. In 5 months. Two of which were spent thinking about how much I really don’t like planning a wedding. When we finally did get married, it happened so fast and it was so great but I still wish we just had a house party where I wore normal clothes. 2012 Matt agrees.

To further romanticise this notion of home-ownership, our water heater just stopped working – in the middle of the “where are my pants/flannel-over-flannel/underwear 6 am dance. The water heater won and I’m not allowed to tell you how long ago that was because it’s hella cold out here in the A.M!! I smell great and the Whirpool people better make this first (non) issue disappear by showing up tomorrow. And then I’ll fold all the clothes on top of the washing machine.

And make myself a cozy dinner.

And I lie. I lie.

Having a house – like being married – is great. But it’s hard. You wish for solutions to magically show up, while you say reassuring things like “we’ve got each other” in your head (sometimes out loud). You feel a cat will solve all your worries but it won’t, it really won’t. I did say it was great though and I stand by that. I get to go on this brilliant adventure, totally-run-of-the-mill, with this perfect guy I married. He tried to fix the water heater all evening yesterday, refusing to listen to me telling him not to, and cursing this BRAND NEW heater all the way. He’s also trying to fix a part of the house on outside so that rodents don’t get in. That’s love people.

That’s something you can congratulate.

Butternut squash and pear soup

What I love about this recipe is nothing goes to waste. Every single part of the main ingredients were used to elevate the taste of this soup a million times over. I’m a fan. There’s a part in the recipe that calls for the roasting pan to be deglazed with water and I thought to myself: “What if I did that with brandy instead? Or cognac! Or bourbon?” I didn’t do any of the three but next time…next time.

Ingredients

Adapted from Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen

1.1 kg/2.5 lb butternut squash
3 Asian pears (total weight 730 gms/1.6 lbs), cut in quarters with seeds removed
12 gms + 5 gms fresh ginger, cut in thin slivers (the 5 gms will be used in the latter part of the recipe)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt + more to flavour the stock
A crack of fresh pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp butter
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups yellow onion, finely diced

To garnish

Fresh cream, thyme leaves and pepper

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a large roasting pan with parchment paper.

Next up, you will need to roast the squash and pears together. Cutting the squash is always challenging for me so I take my time with it and use a sturdy knife. That’s half the battle. If you prefer, you can pierce a couple of holes in the squash and microwave it for a few seconds. I just trusted in the knife. Cut the squash in half length-wise and then into thirds. Remove the seeds and save them in a small jar. You will need them later to make stock for the soup. Cut the pears into quarters. Place the squash on the roasting pan, skin side down. Brush the vegetable oil over the flesh of the squash, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place the slivers of ginger evenly over the pieces. Flip the squash over once your done seasoning it and brush the skin with the remainder of the oil. Place the pears in the gaps between the squash. Put the roasting pan into the oven (preferably the middle rack) for an hour. Midway through the roasting process, flip the squash and pears over so they caramelise on all sides.

Once your squash and fruit is roasted, let it all cool down. You’re going to need to separate the flesh of the butternut squash from the skin. Using a spoon, scoop out that squash goodness and save the skins for the stock (Remember those seeds you saved? The skin is going right along with them in that stock.). Once all the ingredients are off the roasting pan, pour a cup of water in and let it catch all the leftover juices. Pour the water back into a cup.

To start off the stock, place a pot on the stove with 6 cups of water plus the cup of water you just used to de-glaze the roasting pan. Bring the water to a quick boil along with the butternut squash seeds, skin, the bay leaf, and cinnamon stick. Once the stock starts to boil, turn down a heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Strain the stock into a bowl and set aside.

Put the same pot back on the stove on medium-high heat with 2 tbsp of butter and the thyme sprigs. Once the butter melts, add the onions to the pot. Cook them slowly, until they turn light brown and translucent. Add the rest of the ginger, the squash and pears. Pour the stock into the pot and bring it all back to a boil. As soon as the pot starts to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cover, for 20-25 minutes. Taste for salt and add accordingly.

Let the pre-soup cool just a bit to be on the safe side and then puree in batches (depending on how much your food processor holds). While the original recipe asks that the soup be passed through a sieve post-food processing, I kind of like my soup slightly chunky. If you want a smoother texture, strain the puree before you eat. Serve it up with a swirl of fresh cream, thyme and pepper. The end.

Sunchoke mango soup with a side of self-discovery

Butternut squash and pear soup/Water heater emotions