With winter on the way, we’ve officially entered what some call ‘soup season’ – the time when you may find yourself craving warming meals for lunch or dinner.
Food influencer Gigi Grassia, who posts on Instagram as @gigi_goes_vegan, has shared a healthy ‘immune-boosting’ recipe for a delicious sweet potato and carrot soup.
The dish is served alongside soba noodles and tempeh, although you can also opt for skipping these ingredients and just serving the soup itself.
Sharing the recipe in a video, Gigi said: “Everyone is in love with beige food this autumn, but what about orange food?
“Orange food like carrots and sweet potatoes are great for your skin but did you know they’re great for iron absorption too?”
Immune-boosting sweet potato and carrot soup with soy glazed tempeh and soba noodles
Ingredients (Serves two)
- Three medium sweet potatoes
- Two or three medium-big carrots
- One garlic bulb
- Two tsp white miso paste
- One thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
- 600–800ml (2 ½ to 3 ½ cups) warm vegetable stock (or more depending on how creamy you like the soup to be)
- 160g (5.5 oz) dry buckwheat soba noodles
- 150g (5.3 oz) tempeh
- Two tbsp light soy sauce
- One tbsp maple syrup
- One tbsp sriracha (optional)
- Sesame seeds
- Fresh coriander
- Half a lime
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sesame oil
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Method
Preheat your oven to 200°C (390°F). Wash the sweet potatoes and carrots and then chop into chunks.
Place the sweet potato and carrots on a baking tin along with the garlic bulb, and season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. The roast in the oven for 45 minutes until tender.
While the veg is in the oven, cook the soba noodles according to their package instructions and then set aside and begin preparing the tempeh.
Crumble the tempeh into small pieces in a bowl. Then heat a drizzle of sesame oil in a pan over low-medium heat and add the tempeh, lightly frying until it starts to turn golden, usually about five minutes. Add soy sauce and maple syrup (and sriracha if using) and stir until well coated. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Place the sweet potato, garlic, and carrot in a food processor along with miso paste, ginger, vegetable stock, and chosen seasonings, and blend until smooth.
If hot stock has been used, the soup should be warm enough, but if not, then warm through in a pan until it reaches your desired temperature.
Divide the soup into bowls and add the noodles and tempeh, then top with coriander, sesame seeds, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a squeeze of lime juice.
