Recipe Tomato and Coconut Soup

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Given my allergy to dairy proteins (not an intolerance to lactose), I have to be rather creative with my alternatives sometimes and this is one of them. I was fancying cream of tomato soup. Normally I would use creamed cashew nuts to make such a soup but there's an ingredient challenge on at the moment of coconut and we happen to have one which was meant to have gone into the Thai green curry but didn't (hubby made it and used coconut cream from a tin instead adding well over 1,200 calories to the curry and I'm on a diet ).... So I needed another use for the fresh coconut in the pantry. And hence tomato and coconut soup was born!

Don't be afraid of fresh coconuts. Too many people don't know the easy way of cracking open a coconut and keeping the coconut water. See my instructions here for easy opening and defleshing a coconut

Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1/4 of a coconut (flesh only) grated
Coconut water from fresh coconut
A handful of fresh thyme, chopped
1kg fresh tomatoes, chopped
1tsp brown sugar
A handful of basil leaves, roughly torn
500ml water
Homemade coconut milk to thin as needed

Method

1. Fry the onion and fresh thyme in the olive oil in a suitable saucepan, until the onion starts to soften.
2. Lower the best and add the grated coconut and continue to fry until the onion goes translucent.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry (keep saucepan lid on) until the tomatoes soften.
4. Add the water, coconut water and basil and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes with a lid on the saucepan. Retain a few basil leaves for decoration.
5. Taste adding upto 1tsp of sugar as required and season as required. Allow to cool. Now liquidise until smooth. Add as much of your homemade coconut milk add needed to thin to your desired consistency.
6. Reheat and serve hot with freshly made bread.

Photograph to follow but I promise, it just looks like tomato soup!

Variations: this should work well with roasted cumin and coriander seeds added to the cooking onion instead of fresh thyme and fresh basil. Also you could easily add a nice curry powder or even a vegan red Thai curry paste, or chilli powder for a little heat.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Before being liquidised

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

And after being liquidised. Told you. It looks like cream of tomato soup.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

And finally something that still looks like cream of tomato soup served with Ikea's vegan veggie balls.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I assume it's salt to taste, but I'll let you answer that. If not, how is the taste? It looks gorgeous.

 

[Morning Glory]

I assume it's salt to taste, but I'll let you answer that. If not, how is the taste? It looks gorgeous.

It does look lovely.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I assume it's salt to taste, but I'll let you answer that. If not, how is the taste? It looks gorgeous.

Neither thought it needed any to honest, but we don't use much salt so don't tend to add any.

Having re-read my instructions, no, I do mean add sugar to taste, not salt. Tomato anything often benefits from a touch of sugar adding, something my late Grannie taught me. The ingredients also state 1tsp of brown sugar as well.