Friday, 3 April 2015

Cheesy cauliflower and rice soup (vegan)

Good Friday is my day to bake hot cross buns.  I took a batch out of the oven a couple of hours ago and they are lovely.  I will post about them when I have had a chance to take some photos in daylight.  Today was a busy day in the kitchen.  So I have decided to post three short posts on the other recipes we have made.

Today I share a cheesy cauliflower and rice soup that I made for lunch.  It was so good we had it for dinner too.   I had made some vegetable stock a few days ago.  I knew it would add flavour, even when my last onion was alarmingly soft and disgustingly smelly.  We had a cauliflower and leftover rice and even a loaf of sourdough bread to serve it with.  The soup was pretty easy to make, using my blender to whizz up a vegan cheese sauce.  After lots of chocolate and hot cross buns, the healthy soup was just what we needed. 

It has been a busy day of cooking but nice to spend the day at home.  The school holidays have kept us busy with playdates, films and baking.  Right now I am off to look up a nut roast recipe for Easter Sunday lunch.  I hope you are having a great Easter break.

I am sending this soup to Jacqueline for the No Croutons Required event that she runs with Lisa.  And I am sending it to Kimmy of Rock My Vegan Socks for Healthy Vegan Fridays #41.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Pumpkin and tofu ricotta cannelloni and weekend craft
Two year ago: Eating out catch up 2012-2013
Three years ago: Plum almond tart
Four years ago: Strawberry muffins, new oven and an allergy
Five years ago: SOS KC: Beets, Greens and Chickpea Curry
Six years ago: Pooh Bear Honey Slice
Seven years ago: Pumpkin Apple and Sage Risotto

Cheesy cauliflower and rice soup
Adapted from Fo' Real Life
Serves 6

1 head cauliflower, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked rice (I used basmati)
salt and pepper to taste
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Sauce:

1/2 roasted red bell pepper
350g tofu
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 cup soy milk
1 tbsp yellow prepared mustard*
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp light miso 
1 teaspoon salt (I used onion salt)

Simmer cauliflower, garlic and stock in a stockpot for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.  Meanwhile blend the sauce ingredients until you have a thick smooth mixture.  When the cauliflower mixture is ready, scrape the sauce in.  Blend a cup of water in the blender to get the remains of the sauce and add to the soup.   Add rice and warm through.  Season to taste and serve with spring onions.

*Update July 2016: made this tonight and just put all the cheese sauce ingredients in with the soup and blended them with a stick blender when I blended the rest of the soup.  Might use a bit less mild English mustard next time.

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17 comments:

  1. Shaheen4 April 2015 at 03:06

    I have a cauliflower in the fridge, bought for a specific recipe in mind, but it may just end up being a soup. I admire you for makign your own hot cross buns, I am lazy and get mine from the bakers, should give them a go one day.

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    1. Johanna GGG7 April 2015 at 20:40

      Thanks Shaheen - I love cauliflower so if they are cheap I sometimes buy one and don't know what to do with it - this one had been in the fridge so long (a week?) I wondered if it was still ok but it was fine. I don't think it is lazy to buy hot cross buns - I do sometimes - just means your priorities are elsewhere

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  2. Hotly Spiced4 April 2015 at 08:14

    I'm glad your hot cross buns turned out well. I had a disaster in the kitchen this year but the last batch I made had me smiling again. Your smelly soup looks like a great winter warmer. It's so cold and wet and grey and windy here in Sydney today that soup is the perfect meal xx

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    1. Johanna GGG7 April 2015 at 20:41

      Thanks Charlie - nothing like a good batch of hot cross buns. The weather is really starting to turn here too. Today is a real wintery cold wet and windy - definitely soup weather!

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  3. Cakelaw4 April 2015 at 09:14

    Your soup looks delicious. Happy easter!

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  4. Kari4 April 2015 at 19:58

    I was interested to see how you made the 'cheese' sauce. It sounds nice! I actually had a pizza with vegan cheese in Ireland (I'll blog about it eventually, when I catch up) and whilst it was out of character to try it, I'm glad I did as it was quite nice. I'm now a bit more open to other vegan cheese things so this is well timed :)

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    1. Johanna GGG7 April 2015 at 20:43

      Thanks Kari - I am pleased to hear you enjoyed the vegan cheese sauce - it is a different beast to dairy cheese sauce ( just like tofu bacon is to meat bacon) but fills its place nicely. Will be interesting to see if you start to have some more vegan cheesy flavours in your meals

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  5. Mihl4 April 2015 at 20:40

    Every ear I want to make hot cross buns and every year I forget about it. So looking forward to your recipe!
    And that is a lovely soup! I was thinking about cauliflower and now I don't even have to figure out what to do with it, because your recipe sounds perfect. Happy Easter!

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    1. Johanna GGG7 April 2015 at 20:43

      Thanks Mihl - sounds like they are not everywhere in Germany like they are here - they are so in your face here it is hard to forget them. Highly recommend the soup.

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  6. Lisa6 April 2015 at 10:47

    The cheese sauce sounds delicious. I think this soup is going to be on my winter soup list for sure. Yummy! Thank you for sharing :)

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    1. Johanna GGG7 April 2015 at 20:44

      Thanks Lisa - I really loved how the recipe used cheese sauce - I haven't made soups using this method before but I think it would work for other vegies too.

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  7. Joey8 April 2015 at 21:42

    Cauliflower and vegan cheese are always going to be be a winning combination. The soup looks so thick and creamy.

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  8. Unknown10 April 2015 at 10:11

    I seriously want to hang out in your kitchen. You crank out the best sounding meals. I would have never thought of making a soup like this and I'm not a big soup person, but am quite wanting to try this out =) Thank you so much for sharing this at Healthy Vegan Fridays - it's going to be featured tomorrow. And I'm pinning this to the Pinterest Board as well. Thank you for your continued contributions Johanna - you help keep HVF going!

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    1. Johanna GGG10 April 2015 at 16:52

      thanks Kimmy - happy to keep supporting Healthy Vegan Fridays - I appreciate all that you put into keeping it going and for promoting good food. and if I could convert you to eating soups I would be very happy - hope you have a go with this one.

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  9. Gluten Free Alchemist11 April 2015 at 05:49

    oooohhhh.... cauliflower 'cheese' in a bowl! Nice idea and very healthy too. Always good to have a new cauliflower recipe. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Nextexitgasfoodlaughter12 April 2015 at 09:37

    Wow, this soup sounds great! I am having a love affair with tahini right now!

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  11. Jacqueline Meldrum4 May 2015 at 02:22

    So lush! Thanks for submitting it to No Croutons Required. The roundup is now live. Oh and it's been promoted on the Froothie UK Facebook page.

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