Homemade Mexican Inspired Soup

HOMEMADE MEXICAN INSPIRED SOUP

The other day I had an overwhelming urge to make soup. You might remember that many months ago whilst I was at uni, I decided to be brave and make my first ever soup, after never daring to do so previously. That little dabble in new cooking territory ultimately proved to be pretty successful, and my surprise at finding I could actually make a rather nice soup should have spurred me on to make even more soup. Unfortunately that didn't happen, however three months on the urge to make soup eventually found me again, and I decided that, with fond memories of my first successful soup making experience firmly in my mind, I would push the boat out once more and create another soup. So when lunchtime rolled around, I headed to the kitchen and had a good old think about what soup I would make. Having watched Bake Off a couple of days before, where one contestant made a bread inspired by the Mexican flavours like coriander and cumin, I thought that seeing as I also adore Mexican cuisine, I too would take inspiration from those Mexican flavours, and incorporate them into a soup. And that's how my surprisingly delicious homemade soup came to be.

Initially I began by googling recipes, but I find following instructions a bit tedious and overwhelming, what with all those steps and seemingly infinite ingredient list, plus the recipes I found didn't really inspire me either. So I decided that with my first year of university being quite a good crash course in cooking 101, my knowledge of flavours and cooking was good enough for me to try and experiment for myself. I would make my own soup, and just like a mad inventor with a glistening twinkle in their eye, the thought of what I might possibly end up creating and having the freedom to create had me venturing around the kitchen in wonder. With my Mexican theme as a basis, I looked in the fridge and numerous cupboards to take stock of what we had in, and ideas began formulating in my mind. Half an hour later and I was sitting down to a hot bowl of soup and writing down my recipe so that I could share it with you lovely people. I even contemplated calling up my mum too, to tell her I'd made this really nice soup, but ultimately decided against it... I've tried to write my recipe as simply as possible below, and rest assured although it does look a tad overwhelming at first, don't let this put you off because it's actually so simple, easy and quick to make! And should you too experience an overwhelming soup urge, and decide to make my soup, I truly hope that you love it as much as I do (as that would be rather soup-er) *wink wink, nudge nudge*.

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HOW TO MAKE IT...

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

1 carrot

1 sweet potato

1/2 pepper

1/2 courgette

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

4 olives (optional)

1/2 avocado (optional)

3 tbsp coconut milk (optional)

1 can tomatoes

2 tsp tomato purée
1 chicken stock cube

SPICES

Pinch of salt & pepper

1tsp medium chilli 

1tsp paprika

1tsp cumin

1tsp coriander

1tsp tumeric

1tsp red cayenne pepper (optional)

METHOD

1. Cut the sweet potato, carrot, courgette, pepper onion and olives into small cubes.

2. In a saucepan boil the carrots and potato together in boiling water until soft. Meanwhile in a saucepan fry the onions, courgettes and peppers together in olive oil until lightly brown. Then add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more.

3. Drain the carrots and potatoes, then add the frying pan contents to the saucepan.

4. Next add the canned tomatoes, tomato purée, stock cube, avocado, olives and all spices to the saucepan, followed by a dash of boiled water.

5. Turn on the hob to a very low heat and stir all the ingredients together. Allow them to simmer gently for ten minutes or so, checking on and stirring the soup every couple of minutes. When it starts to boil or it looks done, turn the heat off.

6. Leave to cool for a minute or so, and then pour into bowls, serve with bread and enjoy the interesting and delicious mix of flavours!