Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Mushroom, tomato or French onion, the options for soup are endless. But have you ever heard of quinoa soup?
Ingredients
- 1 scant cup (5 oz/150g) quinoa (white, black, red, or mixed)
- 4 medium potatoes (approximately 1 lb/500g)
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 ripe tomatoes, or scant ½ cup (100ml) passata (strained tomatoes)
- 4 handfuls leafy vegetables (Swish chard, spinach, kohlrabi leaves, or cabbage leaves)
- 2 tbsp peanut or sunflower oil
- 2 cups plus scant ½ cup (600ml) boiling water (3 times the volume of quinoa, which should be measured in the same cup)
- Fresh herbs, according to taste and season
- Ground chilli pepper, according to taste (this is optional)
- Fine salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions
1Rinse and drain the quinoa. Peel the potatoes, onion, and garlic. Remove the green shoot from the garlic cloves and chop them finely. Finely chop the onion. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Rinse, dry, and roughly chop the leafy vegetables.
2In a large pot over high heat, heat the oil. Soften the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the pieces of tomato and leafy vegetables. Reduce the heat to low and soften for 3 minutes. Add the quinoa and potatoes.
3Pour in the boiling water and add ½ teaspoon of salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Cover with the lid and cook for 20 to 25 minutes over medium heat, until the quinoa is done. Stir in the herbs and chilli pepper, if using, and serve in bowls.
CHEF’S NOTES
- In Peru and Bolivia, the thickness of this soup varies with the seasons, with the regions, and with what is available. On the high plateaus, it is often thickened with grated cheese that is added two minutes before the quinoa is done.
- Sometimes an egg is cracked into the hot liquid to give it more consistency.
- The fresh herbs traditionally used in Peru and Bolivia for this recipe are hard to find, but if you use oregano, dried mint, or coriander, the result will be true comfort food. The aji amarillo, a small yellow chilli pepper from the Andes, is usually added. If you can’t find it, any chilli pepper of your choice will add pizzazz to your soup.
This comes courtesy of Taste of France Issue Two. For more great recipes, food news and interviews with top chefs, buy your copy here!
