The Doctor's Kitchen Masala Cauliflower Soup

Stumbled across The Doctor's Kitchen delicious plant based recipes on BBC iPlayer last weekend.  

This Masala Cauliflower Soup may look beige, but is delicious...

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

200g onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp garam masala

5cm piece fresh root ginger, roughly chopped

1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

400g cauliflower including leaves & stalk, roughly chopped into small pieces 

400g tin green lentils or other beans in water

200g frozen or fresh spinach

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 lemon, juice only

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion in the olive oil with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes until it begins to soften.

Stir in the garam masala, ginger and chilli flakes (mine are hot chilli flakes and 1/2 tsp was quite enough!), then add the rest of the ingredients apart from the lemon juice,   The recipe said to drain and rinse the lentils.  Not only did I use butter beans because that was the only can of beans I had, but I added the water from the tin to the soup to add a little more flavour.  I also used saved cauliflower stalk and leaves as the cauliflower itself was used in another dish last week.  And finally I dropped in frozen spinach rather than thaw it first as suggested in the original recipe.

Pour in 800ml recently boiled water, cover and bring to the boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the cauliflower is soft.

Liquidise with a stick blender or a liquidiser.  Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste.  I added a spoonful of greek yoghurt to mine and a drizzle of chilli oil.  I might try with a can of coconut milk (and reducing the hot water to 400ml) next time for a creamier soup.

I served it with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of chilli oil.

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