Dairy Free Cauliflower Cream Soup

2011 March 29

There’s still a damp chill in the air and I’ll be darned if I don’t keep craving soups. Considering its like -11 Celsius outside (before the wind chill factor!) and it seems like everyone ELSE in the world has warm weather, I deserve some comfort food. Cream soup.

Now, if you have eliminated dairy from your diet, you might notice that alot of recipes use nuts as a replacement…. the only thing is, of oucrse, about a bajillion people can’t eat nuts. So, I figured, maybe I could mess around a bit and see what I can come up with. Lo and Behold- I didn’t realize it but sunflower seed butter and tahini, in the right recipes, are together a delicious cream substitute! Who knew.?

The great thing about this recipe is that its so gosh darn flexible. Vegan? Sub in vegetable broth. Can’t do potatoes? Sub in parsnips or a sweet potato, or if you are tuber-free, try chopped mushrooms. Quinoa does bad things to you? (ahh that saponin! soak quinoa overnight and rinse well or your gut will let you know loud and clear that you forgot), You can sub in barley, or, if you are gluten free, you can try millet. Can’t do onions? Throw in a chopped leek or whole celery fronds for flavour (take out the celery before serving). I love the flexibility! Its like a new soup everytime.

You’ll find that this is a total stick to your ribs kind of recipe. I really only need one ladle full and that is more than enough. Since this recipe makes like wackloads of soup, I like to freeze it in silicone muffin trays (the big muffin size), and then pop one out to take with me to heat up at lunch. For the canucks out there- go for the PC brand ones at Loblaws. They’re super.

Here we go!

MyRealFoodLife.com

Dairy Free Cream of Cauliflower Soup

NOTE: If you use celery fronds, don’t use the sweet potato at the same time. The flavours may be incompatible.

Ingredients

6-8 cups strong chicken stock vegan: use vegetable stock plust 1/4 tsp cury powder and 1 grated garlic clove
1 cauliflower head, chopped into sections
1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (or 1 sweet potato, or 2-3 medium peeled and chopped parsnips, grain free or paleo: try 2-3 cups chopped mushrooms
1 medium onion chopped (or 1 leek finely chopped, or celery fronds from 3 stalks, left whole)
1/2 cup red quinoa (or white), rinsed or soaked over night to clean (or you can try barley or millet, no soaking needed) grain free or paleo: you can eliminate altogether.
1/4 cup sunbutter (if you don’t do seeds but do nuts, then use cashew butter)
2-3 tbsp tahini sauce (if you don’t do seeds but do nuts, then use almond butter)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Directions

Add the olive oil to a stock pot and saute the onion or leek on high heat till its translucent (if you are using celery, skip this). Add in the potato (or replacement), quinoa (or replacement) and stock.
Bring to a boil, and add in the sunbutter and tahini. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until the potato can be mashed easily with a fork (about 20-30 min).
Puree with a hand blender. Taste to see if you want it creamier or stronger (add 1-2 tbsp of the seed butters to taste), or if it needs salt, or if you’d like a squeeze of lemon. Done! I think next time I’ll add some chili flakes to give it some kick :)