Chilled Thai asparagus soup
This is a Spring recipe we wrote for our friends, Liebherr. We're thrilled to be working with Liebherr and are happy to announce that series 3 of Grape Minds is coming to instagram live in June! Be sure to tune in for more vegcentric food & wine pairing chat.
Now some would argue that pairing bold flavours with asparagus - the creme-de-la-creme of seasonal vegetables - is sacrilege, and we hear that. You simply cannot beat blanched asparagus topped with a knob of butter, a pinch of sea salt, and a soft boiled egg - perfection.
But, while asparagus is in season (in the UK that’s April and May) we endeavour to eat as much of it as possible, and thus we need to mix up the flavours from time to time. On paper, this is a quirky one… think of it as a Thai-inspired asparagus vichyssoise - a rich and creamy chilled soup. It’s very unique, and the flavours are brilliant - they are bright, fragrant, and clean.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes (plus 4+ hours chilling time)
This recipe serves 4.
Ingredients :
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 banana shallots
1 lemon grass
1 large thumb ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 green chilli
¼ tsp powdered lime leave (or 2 dried leaves, remove before blending)
15 g fresh coriander (½ supermarket packet)
1 medium baking potato
1 ½ tsp flakey sea salt
500g asparagus - cut off tips, slice stalks
1 tin coconut milk
1 ½ tin water
1 ½ limes
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp tamari
Sesame seeds, optional
Fresh bread, to serve
Method:
Start by preparing the aromatic ingredients: peel and dice the shallots; top and tail the lemon grass and remove the toughest external layer, then finely chop; peel and chop the ginger; peel and slice the garlic; and deseed and dice the green chilli.
Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan, and once warm add the shallot and sauté for 6 minutes.
After 6 minutes add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chilli and lime leaf powder or lime leaves. Continue cooking for 4 minutes over a low heat.
Separate the coriander leaves from the stalks; roughly chop the stalks and add these to the saucepan. Keep the leaves to one side for blending in later.
Peel and finely dice the potato into roughly 1 cm cubes. Add these to the saucepan as well as 1 teaspoon of flakey sea salt, and stir well. Keep the heat low and pop on the lid to encourage the potatoes to steam-cook for 8 minutes. Stir often to make sure things don’t stick.
Meanwhile, cut the tips off the asparagus and set to one side; finely chop the stalks into 1 cm thick rounds. The smaller the asparagus is the faster it will cook, and the fresher its flavour will be.
Add the coconut milk and the water to the saucepan, pop on the lid, and bring to a simmer.
When the soup is simmering and you feel confident your potatoes are cooked through, add the chopped asparagus stalks and simmer for 4 minutes with the lid on.
After 4 minutes turn off the heat, add the coriander leaves, and blend until ultra smooth. At this point you can always add a touch more water if it looks a little too thick, but double check the seasoning afterwards.
Transfer your soup into something fairly shallow to enable faster chilling - we find a deep sided roasting tray works perfectly and we pop this outside in the fresh air to cool. Allow the soup to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
To prepare the tamari tips: heat a small frying pan over a medium/high heat. Whilst that’s heating, mix together 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of tamari, and the juice of ½ a lime. Once hot add the asparagus tips to the frying pan and ‘dry-fry’ for two minutes to char ever so slightly. After 2 minutes turn off the heat and add the dressing. This will sizzle and reduce in the residual heat. Allow these to cool before garnishing your soup.
Serve the chilled soup in chilled bowls, topped with your tamari & lime asparagus tips, and a sprinkle of sesame seed or coriander leaves if you wish!