In search of Purple soup - with carrots: Vegan MoFo 2018

Autumn is traditionally the colour of reds, yellows and oranges but this year it brought a wealth of purple vegies to our local farmers market.  I saw the photo of a gorgeous purple cauliflower soup and was determined to try one at home.  It was not as easy as just making soup but with a bit of effort I made the purple soup of my dreams.

I started my search for purple soup with a purple cauliflower and purple potatoes.  It seemed foolrproof.  I boiled them all up and blended.  It looked like tomato soup and then faded to a grey gruel colour over a few nights.  I had a laugh with a friend who had tried purple carrot soup and made sludge.  It was good to discuss it with her so that when I found some purple carrots at the Queen Vic Market, I could try again.

It amused me when I bought the purple carrots that we had a friend of Sylvia's with us who was quite shocked that anyone would buy purple carrots.  I also found red carrots which seemed a good addition but when I peeled them, they were orange underneath the peel.  So I decided not to use them.

I put the vegies onto roast and they looked a bit white overall.  My biggest regret was cutting the carrot so thick (about 2cm) that it wasn't quite cooked when rest were.  In the recipe below I have suggested cutting it thinner.

However once the vegies roasted, I was pleased that the purple had bled into the rest of the vegies.  Roasting seemed to keep the colour much better than boiling.  Vinegar was also recommended by my friend to keep the colour.

In my first attempt at purple soup, I had fried the onion as well as using a dark home made stock.  I think both of these had also contributed to the reduced purple. 

I was really pleased with the colour when I blended the vegies.  The above is before I added the beans and leftover rice.  It would be fine without beans and rice but I like to make soup substantial enough to be a meal.  When I gave the soup to Sylvia she enjoyed the beans and rice. 

I was really pleased with the purple colour.  It even lasted a few days.  The flavours weren't quite balanced.  I am not sure, it needed quite so much vinegar and maple syrup.  However I would highly recommend serving it with home made sourdough bread rolls.  Sadly the purple days at the farmers market seem to be over but I am hoping to get another go at some purple soup next autumn.

This post is part of Vegan MoFo 2018 this month.  In my introductory post to my Vegan MoFo participation, I noted how much had already gone wrong this year in my house.  Now my computer has died and luckily I have a few posts drafted to quickly post on another computer.  But I hope to fix it quickly or Vegan MoFo could be a quieter than I had anticipated.  Here's hoping!

More purple food on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cauliflower rice (gf, v)
Nutty purple carrot balls (v)
Ombre potato and cheese torte (gf)
Purple carrot, cauliflower and chickpea soup (gf, v)
Purple carrot soda bread
Purple nut roast (v) 
Purple potato, sweet potato and watercress salad (gf, v)

Purple carrot soup
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipes
Serves 4-6

500g purple carrots
1 large parsnip
1 onion
3 medium potatoes
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
4 cups boiling water
3 tsp stock powder
2 tsp seasoning mix
1 tsp seeded mustard
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or less)
2 tsbp maple syrup (or less)
400ml tin cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups cooked basmati rice
Toasted seeds, to serve (optional)

Peel vegies.  Cut carrots and parsnips into 1/2 to 1 cm slices.  Chop onion into 1-2 cm chunks and cut potatoes into 1/2cm slices.  Place carrots, parsnip, onion, potatoes and garlic cloves in a roasting dish.  It is good if they are a bit crowded as you want them to be close enough to soften rather than having space to crisp up.  Toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Roast at 220 C for about 45 minutes.  Stir every 10-15 minutes and check if anything (esp garlic) is cooked and/or charring.

When vegies are cooked through, tip into a large saucepan and add boiling water, stock powder, seasoning mix, seeded mustard, vinegar and maple syrup.  Check seasoning as you go.  Bring to the boil and remove from heat.  Blend.  Add beans and rice and then heat through.

Mix some white and black seeds such as sesame, poppy and chia seeds together to serve if desired.

NOTES: Red onion would be preferred but I used brown.  You could make a purple carrot soup with different flavourings.

On the stereo:
The National: High Violet

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in September 2018.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2018 Vegan MoFo posts.