Cream of Tomato Soup

Watching the lovely Peter warm up lovely Heinz Cream of Tomato soup has been known to fill me with envy.  The smell is one of those that is just so nostalgic and I can remember the taste even though it’s been years.  No home-made tomato soup I’ve ever attempted has come anywhere near that taste, neither has the colour ever been right – where tomato soup tends to be the colour of tomatoes, if you had no sense of smell and you opened a can of Heinz tomato soup you could be forgiven for thinking it was orange emulsion paint.  I wondered what was in this weird stuff and whether it would be possible to make a vegan version.

tomatosoup
The ingredients list for Heinz Cream of Tomato soup reads thus: Tomatoes, vegetable oil, sugar, modified cornflour, salt, dried skimmed milk, milk proteins, cream, spice extracts, herb extract, citric acid.  It goes against my mum’s advice of “never eat soup and milk at the same meal” (also don’t eat more than one apple a day – are you listening, people?) – whatever I made today, it was bound to be better on account of no milk and it doesn’t contain even one apple!

I don’t attempt to recreate the recipe but I have attempted to recreate the taste (not bad, quite similar) and the colour (no chance, unless I add orange or lemon peel I suppose)

Ingredients (enough for one serving)

  • 5 large-ish tomatoes
  • 1/2 a leek
  • 2 teaspoons of olive oil
  • Stock made with 1 teaspoon of vegetable bouillon (reduced salt version – if using other stock, leave out the salt)
  • Agave nectar (1 teaspoon)
  • Salt and pepper (tiny amount of each cause this is only for 1 person)
  • 1 bay leaf and 1 basil leaf (you can add more basil for decoration)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 4 tablespoons of Oatly oat milk
  1. Chop the leek and gently fry in the olive oil, then add the tomatoes (cored, peeled and quartered) and fry for a bit more
  2. Cover with stock, bring to boil then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes – add basil and bayleaf during this time
  3. Blend with handheld blender
  4. Return to pan and bring to boil
  5. Reduce heat and add agave, tomato puree and oat milk – stir in well over heat
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste (shouldn’t need much)

I then did SUMS to see how my version equated with the Heinz canned version for various factors (because I’m like that).  We reckon the amount of soup I made was equivalent to about a 400g can of Heinz tomato soup.  The home-made soup has a few more calories but not significantly more, it’s also a bit higher in protein and fibre, a bit lower in sodium and a bit higher in fat.  People wanting less fat could reduce the amounts of oat milk or olive oil.

Lastly, one serving of this soup, as made, is 6 WWPP, exactly the same as a can of Heinz tomato soup.  I think this means I’ve won 🙂

Onion Squash Soup (served in an Onion Squash)

Here’s something you could make for Halloween.  Please NO carving of scary faces into the squash before serving up – it makes the soup fall out.

sssooop

 

For each serving you’ll need:

  • One onion squash – about 550-600g whole weight
  • 1 and a half teaspoons of olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 15g creamed coconut  and half a teaspoon nutritional yeast  flakes OR  30g goat’s cheese
  • Vegetable stock
  • Parsley or chives to garnish
  1. Cut small amount from base of squash so that it stands flat
  2. Make another cut right through the squash about 2/3 of the way up and remove that section
  3. Scoop out seeds and discard
  4. Armed with a sharp knife and a metal spoon, excavate chunks of squash as you would if you were hollowing out a pumpkin – however aim for chunks all being approximately same size
  5. Put chunks of squash in a bowl and mix well with olive oil
  6. Transfer to baking tray and bake at 200°C, checking every 10 minutes, till chunks are soft (cooking time will vary depending on how big chunks are)
  7. When soft, transfer to blender and blend together with all other ingredients except for garnish (you can vary amount of stock to get a thinner or thicker soup)
  8. If soup not warm enough, transfer to saucepan and warm through
  9. Pour into hollowed-out squash to serve and sprinkle with garnish

Please note: onion squash also tastes amazing just on its own

WWPP: 5

Sweet Potato Curry

The area of London where I used to live and the area of London where I live now have something in common – good South Indian restaurants.  Hence I know the delights of dosas, sambhar and coconut chutney and would take them over poppadoms and something eye-watering with rice any day.  Last time I went to my favourite South Indian Restaurant I was informed that their dosas contravened my no-dairy rule, which made me go ‘meh!’.  Then I thought “I bet I can make my own and make it dairy-free!”.  And I nearly did.  By the time I’d got the hang of how to fry the dosas there was only enough mixture to give everyone a tiny one by the side of their plate.  Fortunately the curry got the seal of approval from everyone who tried it, including the lovely neighbours, who have provided me with the photo below.

SONY DSC

The dosa and sambhar are from a packet I bought at Morrisons although you can buy them online here
The dosa is based on rice and lentil flours but there’s a disclaimer on the pack that says it’s packed in a plant that processes wheat flour also so I don’t know if that counts as safely GF
The curry’s fine though – the amount below makes 3 portions

  • 350g sweet potato (one large one)
  • 125g carrots (I think about 3 medium-sized)
  • 1 red onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • Teaspoon sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)
  • 125g red kidney beans, cooked or canned and drained
  • 80g french beans (or dwarf or runner beans)
  • 100ml coconut milk
  • Teaspoon curry powder
  • Teaspoon stock powder
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • Squirt of agave nectar
  1. Boil the sweet potato and the carrots till almost soft, steam the french beans over the same saucepan if you’re lazy (I am, BTW)
  2. Fry the onion and garlic in the oil in a wok or substantial frying pan
  3. Transfer potato and carrots to the same pan
  4. Add curry powder, tomatoes and (both lots of) beans and stir in
  5. Pour on enough hot stock to cover and simmer
  6. Add coconut milk and agave nectar
  7. Keep simmering till liquid reduces and potatoes and carrots go a bit mushy

In the interests of learning to make things that tend towards the healthy, I’ll be marking some of these recipes with Weight Watchers Pro Points values.  I know a number of my friends are doing Weight Watchers and I’d like to put recipes on here they can try so you’ll see at the bottom of some recipes the letters WWPP and a number.   People who are unconcerned with or even anti the whole Weight Watching thing are welcome to ignore the letters and the number.

WWPP: 6