Spicy Parsnip Soup

Pestle and mortar

The parsnips are just finishing now and I absolutely love this soup. It is packed with flavour - both the spices and the parsnips. Parsnips go very well with Indian spices and a variation on roast parsnips is to sprinkle them with curry powder or your own mix of spices, e.g. cumin, coriander, chilli, when you put them in the oven. Here's the recipe for the soup for now.

Ingredients
1 onion, medium finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 parsnip, large, peeled and cut into chunks
45g Butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pinch salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 litre well flavoured stock - you can use any stock you like but I prefer to use vegetable
1 handful coriander, or parsley, chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric

Method

1. First make the spice mix by dry roasting the first three spices in a small, heavy frying pan over a moderate heat until toasted and aromatic.

2. Tip into a mortar and leave to cool, and then grind with your pestle to a powder with the chilli, then add the turmeric. You can use a spice grinder (coffee grinder kept for spice grinding).

3. Sweat the onion, garlic and parsnip gently in the butter, with the lid on the pan, for 10 minutes. Stir in the flour and a tablespoon of the spice blend, plus a little salt. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Pour in the stock, gradually. Bring up to the boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the parsnip is very tender.

5. Liquidise the mixture, adding water or more stock if you have any to hand, until he soup has a similar consistency to double cream. Taste and correct the seasoning.

6. Reheat when needed and serve scattered with coriander or parsley.