Last Monday the Social Club here at A4 ran a Soup Competition. Staff brought in a homemade soup which was tasted by the rest of the staff with no hint of ingredients! From the six soups that were entered we can now share the top 2. First place (for the second year in a row) was Grant Calvert with his Curried Indian Kumera Creation and in second place was Kim Antonio with her Kumera, Red Apple and Little Piggy Soup.
They have shared their winning recipes below for you all to enjoy.
Curried Indian Kumera Creation
2 gloves garlic
1/2-1 tsp curry powder
75g butter
500g Kumera
1 cup water
2tsp vegetable bouillon or other flavouring
3 cups milk
1/4 cup cream (optional)
Add the crushed garlic and curry powder to the butter in a large saucepan.
Peel the Kumera and slice into pieces 1 cm thick.
Cook in the butter for 1-2 minutes without browning.
Add the water abd bouillon, cover and cook for 10 minutes until tender.
Puree, thinning with milk until it reaches the desired thickness.
Add the cream and reheat, but do not boil.
Kim’s Delicious Kumara, Red Apple and Little Piggy Soup
50g butter
1 Tbsp Oil
1 medium onion (red or white), peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, diced
1 or 2 medium Gala apples, cored and thinly sliced/diced
6-8 rashers of bacon, chopped (about 200g packet)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
3 to 4 medium kumara, peeled and diced into chunks (approx. 1kg)
1 Litre carton chicken stock
3/4 cup cream
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
Parsley
In a large pot melt the butter with the oil.
Add the onion, garlic, celery and apples and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until starting to soften. Stir regularly.
Add the bacon and spices and continue cooking, until everything is soft/cooked but not brown.
Add kumara and stock. Bring to a boil then simmer until the kumara is very tender.
Once kumara is done, blitz with a stick blender until the soup has a smooth texture. You could use a food processor/ordinary blender for this too.
Return the soup to a low heat and stir through the cream.
Season to taste and add the apple cider vinegar.
Remove from heat and stir through finely chopped parsley.
You can garnish with extra fried bacon and a swirl of cream and/or serve with crusty bread.
