Recipe: Curried Parsnip Soup

The classic combination of sweet parsnip and warm spices is a winner in this velvety smooth curried parsnip soup.

It has definitely tipped over into soup season this week hasn’t it?! Downpours, flooding, digging out the raincoats and umbrellas from the depths of the coat cupboard… we’ve even lit our fire for the first time since last winter!

What could be more comforting on a chilly autumnal day than a bowl of creamy curried parsnip soup with crusty bread?

There’s nothing fancy or complicated about this recipe, though like many of my soup recipes I roast the ingredients together to give a really intense flavour, (see my popular courgette soup, tomato soup, fennel soup and jerusalem artichoke soup).

I finished mine off with homemade parsnip crisps which, let’s face it, might be a bit fancy-nancy for a quick weekday lunch, but if you’re serving this soup to friends or family they really do give a wow factor for not very much effort, and the crispy, salty crisps are such a good finishing touch to a very creamy soup.

What you need to make your Curried Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

Parsnips are in season here in the UK from late August right through to March. The really huge ones can be a bit woody in the middle so look out for some medium-sized ones like mine below.

Curry powder is a ready-blended mix of spices which makes this a super-quick soup. Mine contained coriander seeds, cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, cassia, cardamom, chilli powder, star anise, bay leaf, cloves and mace. Let’s face it – no one wants that many individual jars in their cupboard! If you prefer to mix your own spices I would recommend ground coriander, turmeric and cumin, and as much chilli powder as you fancy!

Vegetable stock can be deceiving as some have some sneaky milk powder added, gahhhh! So do check the label before you buy.

Vegan cream has become so much easier to find in recent years, and is now stocked in most supermarkets. I like this double cream below but any plant-based cream will work well, or plant milk to make this a bit lighter.

Equipment

You will need a roasting tin (and oven), a large saucepan and a blender of some sort. I tend to use my stick blender in the saucepan for speed, but if I want a really super-smooth soup I’ll go to the extra effort of getting out my super-powered blender which does make quite a difference.

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Variations on your Parsnip Soup

To mix this up a bit how about….

• Making it quicker by cooking all the ingredients together in the saucepan – cooking time will be roughly half of the roasting time, (though the flavours won’t be quite so intense). Fry the onion, garlic and curry powder gently first, then add the parsnips and stock, boil until soft, then add the cream and blitz.
• Making it lighter by swapping out the cream for plant-based milk.
• Making it different by using other root vegetables instead or as well as parsnips – how about jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, sweet potato, butternut squash, or the humble potato?

Freezing your Curried Parsnip Soup

Regular readers will know I have a fridge stacked high with soup, and this one is no exception. Freeze in individual portions then simply cook from frozen in the microwave or saucepan for a steaming lunch in under 5 minutes. Delicious!

What else can I do with parsnips?

Here are a few tempting ideas from blogging friend Mandy at Cook Veggielicious:

• Vegan Wellington with Parsnips
• Parsnip, Chickpea & Cauliflower Korma

 

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I’m linking this recipe with this week’s CookBlogShare challenge hosted by Jenny at Apply to Face blog.