Is there anything better than a hot bowl of soup on a cool fall day? Especially creamy and delicious tomato soup? Last week, a friend of mine had so many tomatoes coming in from their garden, so she gave me a bag full of juicy vine tomatoes. They were falling off the fridge every time I opened it, so I thought I would try to make a tomato soup recipe that was dairy free, but still creamy. I used cashew milk and added carrots as well, and I love how it turned out.
I am finding Vegan recipes so much easy to make these days. I am not aware of any positive or negative effect that this Vegan diet is having on me, but I surely am loving this exploration of new tastes and variety within the same realm of Vegetarianism. Before than this, I had never thought on making a Vegan Tomato soup. This was a pleasant surprise, to induce the same creaminess without adding dairy.
I have had a lot of Tomato Basil soup, so I wanted to give coriander a try this time. Which is my favourite herb for any of my Indian curries anyway. Not so surprisingly, it was a hit instantly and my fussy husband gobbled the full bowl up without any complaints.
I roasted the tomatoes for this one, since I love the smoky flavour. I also roasted some garlic along with, taking advantage of the hot oven. It’s completely optional though, if you are roasting the tomatoes on a stove top/ flame burner. Though it really gives that extra punch to any soup/curry. And since this was dairy free, I was free to experiment with the smoky flavours as much as I want. Also, I have added cumin seeds to the tomatoes while roasting which really was a big factor that S had it all without fuss. Addition of cumin does make this soup a bit more “Indian” giving it the nice exotic touch.
So anyway, for this recipe, we’re going to slow roast tomatoes for over an hour and we’re going to purée them with cashews that we mindfully soaked beforehand. And it’s going to be the creamiest, most comforting and nourishing bowl of tomato soup. It’ll take time, but it’s mostly inactive, so you can complete your other chores in the meanwhile or just sit and relax in the room filled with the smoky aroma of tomatoes and/or garlic.
On top of that if you puree the carrots and keep it aside, the actual soup actually takes less than 10 minutes to get ready and serve on the table. If you need to prepare the soup for any party, keep the roasted tomatoes and carrot puree ready and before serving simply blend everything together in hardly any time. Let’s get on to the recipe now.
What you need?
- 12-15 medium sized tomatoes (about 2 kg)
- 3 shallots, peeled and chopped (or onions)
- 1/4 cup carrot puree
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp of Cumin seeds
- ½ cup of coriander leaves (cilantro), washed and chopped roughly
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt + pepper to taste ( I used white pepper, and it tasted great)
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
- A few sprigs of basil leaves (or any other herb you would like to add, basil works the best)
- 2-3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
How to make?
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut tomatoes into halves and spread them out in a single layer on the baking sheet with any cut sides facing up. Cut peeled shallots into quarters and nestle amongst tomatoes. Stick garlic cloves into juicy spots of tomatoes or nestle them between cut tomatoes like the shallots (just to avoid burnt + bitter garlic).
- Drizzle some olive oil on top of everything, using no more than 1-2 tablespoons. Season the tomatoes with cumin seeds, salt and pepper and slide the tray into the oven. Roast for about an hour, or until the tomatoes have shrivelled up a bit and the shallots are soft. Let cool slightly.
- While the tomatoes are getting roasted, prepare carrot pure (only if you are adding it). To prepare the puree – chop 1 carrot, boil it for 10 minutes and let it cool for a bit. Blend with a little water to prepare puree. Keep aside.
- When the tomatoes are cooled off- In batches, blend the roasted tomatoes with the soaked cashews, basil (or any other herb that you are using), and vegetable stock until you have a smooth purée. Pour blended soup into a large pot. Once you’ve blended everything, including the accumulated juices in the baking sheet, add the balsamic vinegar to the pot.
- Add carrot puree and stir. Bring the soup to a boil, and add in the chopped cilantro (coriander leaves).
- At last- check once for seasoning + adjust, and serve hot with extra coriander leaves. You may also drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top, garlic infused variety preferable.
Notes and tips:
- If you don’t have cashews/forgot to soak them, feel free to use some full fat coconut milk instead–about a 1/2 cup. This will change the flavour a bit, but you could totally go with it and add a tsp of lemon juice at the end of cooking to balance the flavours.
- I mixed my tomato varieties up for maximum flavour, but also because that’s what I had. So I mixed up vine tomatoes with some salad tomatoes and a couple of cherry tomatoes.
- I have used carrot pure since I like the taste of tomatoes with carrot. Some people dont like it since it gets a bit on the sweet-ish side. You may conveniently avoid it.
- You may also add curry leaves instead of basil. Curry leaves are easily available in any Indian/Sri Lankan store nearby.
- Instead of Coconut milk or cashew milk- you may try adding almond milk as well. I havent tried that yet, if you do that, do let me know how it turns up 🙂
Another soup which I made using roasted ingredients is this Roasted eggplant and garlic soup. This was also amazing and if you are a fan of garlic, you would love this one too. Try the recipe and give your feedback:
Love ur presentation. .The way uu take photos. ..really
Thanks dear ! 🙂