Chupe de Maní - Ecuadorian Peanut Soup

 Waaaay back last year, when everyone was talking about ball kicking tournaments, I was part of a small group of dedicated bloggers who took part in the World Cup Food Challenge.  This (I'm sure you remember) was a blog based challenge to cook between us, dishes from every country involved in said real-life-subbuteo competition.

In this challenge, I made a number of dishes (and some soups) from South American countries, and I fell in love with the cuisine of that continent.  Fast forward to Christmas, and as I tore open my presents from under the tree, I found that Santa had brought me not one but two recipe books on South America (along with 5 more on other things.  I'm so easy to buy for at Christmas - either cook books or Star Wars merchandise*) 

So I thought that I would do a few South American soups on the blog.  Starting with this one, from Ecuador.  You could use peanut butter for this recipe instead of grinding up your own peanuts, but I think the flavour is more intense doing it this way.  It's thick and creamy and satisfying and a great start to my South American soup adventure.  Let's see if my prediction made last summer - that South American cuisine would be the next big thing - comes true this year.  It totally should if this soup is anything to go by...

* Incidentally, I will be making at least on Star Wars inspired soup recipe in the run up to The Force Awakens being released, but that's not until December, so I have plenty of time. And yes, I am aware this exists... and I probably won't be making Bloodsoup, as I'm not a Sith Lord.  Until I do get round to making my own Star Wars soup, why not try this recipe for Bantha Steak Soup that I found

Cube 1 thick bantha steak; trim fat, pat dry. Saute meat in bantha butter until brown. Core, seed, and chop 2 large ootoowergs, 3 ripe dropes, 1 small koba if available. Add vegetables to cooked meat, cook til heated through. Put all in pot of boiling water. Cover, simmer at low heat for 3 days. Add roosha to taste. Serve 1-2.

Now, where can I get some ootoowergs from? I'm thinking Lidl? 

And for anyone else wanting to try Star Wars soups, here is a list of some that exist in the Star Wars universe, courtesy of the ever-helpful Wookiepedia. Although sadly Gungan bouillabaisse is made *by* Gungans, not *of* them. Mmmm, Cream of Jar Jar soup...

Ingredients
200g Potatoes
150g Peanuts
2 Large Tomatoes
2 Stalks Celery
1 Onion
1 Red Chilli
Fresh Coriander
1tsp Cumin
1.2l Beef Stock

Method.
1.  Heat to oven to 160ºc.  Spread the peanuts out on a baking tray. Put them in the oven and roast them for 10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  Put them in a food processor and blend into a fine powder

2.  Peel and chop the onion and potato then slice the celery.  Heat some oil in your soup pan and gently cook the vegetables for a few minutes until they start to soften.

3.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan, along with the cumin, chilli and stock.  Then add the peanuts, bring the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes.  Remove from the head and allow to cool.

4. Blend the soup until smooth, adjust seasoning to taste, reheat and serve. Garnish with more crushed peanuts, fresh coriander and thinly sliced red chillies.  Enjoy!

Daraba - Olympic Food Challenge : Chad

Today we hit Chad.  Not the South African Swimmer Chad le Clos (His Dad was brilliant, wasn't he?) and not a hanging chad (whatever they are) but the central African country.  Chad have never won a medal in the Olympics and have sent 3 athletes to London.  One of them is competing in the Men's 100m.  Could he upset Mr Bolt?  We'll have to keep our eyes peeled and find out...

Another country, another stew!  This one however is missing one ingredient that I usually insist on in ever meal - MEAT!!!  However, the addition of peanut butter makes it a wonderful, savoury dish.  Simple and healthy, but also cheap, which has proved to be important as  we cross the halfway point in the Olympic Food Challenge, where weird and wonderful ingredients are king and pockets need to be deep (Not complaining by the way - I'm loving trying new and unusual things...)

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Snow!  Snow!  Oh blimey, you would think that the world was ending after a few hours of the white stuff on Saturday night!  I remember in ye olde times when it snowed and everyone would help each other clear drive ways and push stuck cars, but now it just seems to bring out the more petty aspects of people - moaning about the lack of grit for the roads, chuntering (good word eh?) about how to get to the shops etc.

Maybe it's just me getting old, but I really wish more people would enjoy the snow - it really does bring out the child in me - snow ball fights, sledging, staring drunkenly at orange sodium street lamps in the dark, watching huge white flakes drifting silently to the ground.  Who cares if you can't get in to work.  SNOW DAY!

At least my cold disappeared in time for me to enjoy Snowmageddon 2012, and allow me to go for a lovely walk along the frozen canal, before returning home to a lovely roast chicken.  And me being me, I couldn't let any single tiny bit of the chicken go to waste, so into the slow cooker went the flesh-stripped carcass to cook overnight for stock.

That meant that I woke up to a house that smelled delightfully of chicken, but also that I had lots of lovely stock for soup, as well as left-over chicken to use up.  So I decided to make a spicy chicken noodle soup.  I even experimented with clarifying the stock, by mixing 2 whisked eggwhites, 100ml of cold water and some chopped chicken into the cold stock, then slowly bringing it to the simmer, not stirring it until all the egg white floated to the top, bringing with it all the impurities from the stock, then I skimmed this off and was left with a rich golden stock.  I thend to water this down a bit before using it ina soup - about half and half, or the taste can be a bit too strong for my liking, but you can always play around with it

Anyway, with no more digressions, Thai Chicken Noodle Soup...

Ingredients
1.2l Chicken Stock
1 Red Chili
1 Green Chili
2tbsp Fish Sauce
Juice of 1 Lime
60g Roasted Peanuts
150g Broccoli Florets
200ml Coconut Milk
100g Thin Egg Noodles
Oriental Spinach Leaves
Fresh Coriander

Method
1. Heat the stock in a large pan, slowly bringing it to a simmer

2. Add the fish sauce, lime juice.  De seed and finely chop the chilies and add them.

3. If you are using uncooked chicken breast, cut it into bite sized strips and add it to the soup, if you are using left-overs, add them now as well.

4. Crush the peanuts in a pestle and mortar and add them to the soup, as well as the broccoli florets.

5. Cover the pan and leave to cook for around 10 minutes

6. In another pan, heat some water and cook the egg noodles as directed on the packaging.

7. Before serving, add the coconut milk to the soup and adjust seasoning to taste

8.  Add the shredded spinach leaves (or you could use spring onions) to the soup

9.  Put a serving of the egg noodles in each bowl, then top off with soup

10 Garnish with a few fresh coriander leaves