Recipe: Creamy tomato with lemongrass & lime leaves

This soup has quite a few flavours in common with a Thai red curry, yet it stays mild and doesn’t go ‘all the way’. It is a great soup for a lazy day, as you can put this soup on the table in less than 25 minutes. It is an all-round, affordable and loved by all recipe, and therefore very suitable to make for large groups.

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Ingredients

Serves: 3-4

• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 big yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cm fresh ginger, grated
• 0.5 tsp sambal oelek or freshly chopped chili
• 5 lime leaves
• 2 stems of lemongrass, sliced once over the length
• 0.5 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 50 ml tomato paste
• 500 ml canned tomato
• 500 ml water
• 150 ml coconut
• Splash of agave syrup
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Optional: Handful of fresh coriander
• Optional: Bean sprouts, garlic sprouts & sesame

Preparation

• Glaze the onion in sunflower oil in a soup pot on medium heat.
• Once it starts to get some colour, add garlic, ginger, sambal oelek, lemongrass, lime leaves, a little salt and coriander seeds.
• Stir well for about 1-2 minutes and add some extra oil if needed.
• Now add the tomato paste and fry together with the spices for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add water and bring to a boil.
• Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes just with the water to let the flavours truly extract.

• Add the canned tomato and bring to a boil again and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
• To finish, take the soup off the heat and remove the limes and lemongrass.
• Add the coconut cream and blend the soup smooth with a stick blender.
• Add more salt, pepper and sambal oelek to taste.
• If the soup is a bit sour or ‘flat’ add a little splash of agave to make the flavour more rounded.
• It is lovely to garnish with fresh coriander and sprouts.

• Alternative: The soup combines well with chili, limes, ginger, and sesame seeds. Replace the tomato paste and canned tomato with butternut squash for an Asian pumpkin soup. Also, very yummy! For extra protein, you could top the soup with black lentils, cashews, or peanuts.

Mundekullas Gröna Kök – want to buy Stephanie's book?

Mundekullas Gröna Kök won the Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2021 for Best Vegetarian Cookbook in Sweden and Best Hotel Cookbook in the World. The book features more than 70 vegan and vegetarian recipes and 10 chapters on playing with flavors and textures, how to design and plant-based meal or buffet, the love for cooking farm-to-table. Buy the book here.

Read more: Inspiration & recipes from Stephanie Verstift

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Mundekulla is an ecological course and retreat center in the Småland countryside. At Mundekulla, people meet for courses, conferences and festivals, focusing on personal development, mindfulness, creativity, nature and of course beautiful nutritious food! Since its start over 20 years ago, the center has been built on sustainable principles. With traditional building methods and green energy, as well as with a focus on social justice and promoting various peace projects. The whole idea with Mundekulla is to create and co-create learning, art, music, community and health. The best thing is all the wonderful, meaningful encounters with other people. That's the core. Find out more at mundekulla.se