Sweet Corn And Lemongrass Soup Food

PUMPKIN, CORN, AND LEMONGRASS SOUP

Steps:

• Cut off and discard top of lemongrass, leaving a 6-inch stalk, then smash stalk with side of a large heavy knife.
• Cook lemongrass, onion, and 1 teaspoon salt in butter and oil in a heavy medium pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 10 minutes. Add squash, corn, water, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and discard lemongrass.
• Purée soup in 3 or 4 batches in a blender until very smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), straining each batch as blended through a fine-mesh sieve into a large heatproof bowl, pressing hard on and then discarding solids. Season with salt and pepper and reheat if necessary.

SWEET SUMMER CORN SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the stock in a large pot until it comes to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. While it's heating, cut off the corn kernels from the cobs (cutting in a large salad bowl helps keep the kernels from flying all over). You should have about 4 1/2 cups/680 g of kernels. Place the 6 cobs in the stockpot, and simmer them covered, while you prepare the rest of the soup ingredients (for at least 20 minutes).
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onions for 3 minutes. Add the celery and thyme and sauté for another 4 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Remove the cobs from the stockpot with tongs, and place them on a plate to cool. Add the sautéed vegetables, potatoes, 1 tsp salt, paprika, 1/4 tsp pepper, cayenne, and coriander to the pot and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, when the cooked cobs are cool enough to handle, take a sturdy knife and scrape down the sides of the cobs to collect the remainder of the kernels. This should yield about 1 cup/150 g of kernel bits.
• After the soup has cooked for 25 minutes, stir in the soymilk, corn kernels, and corn kernel bits. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove 1 qt/960 ml of the soup and puree it in a blender or food processor until it's very smooth. Return the puree to the soup pot, and heat until it returns to a simmer, stirring frequently.
• While the soup simmers, hold the whole bell pepper with metal tongs over an open flame on the stovetop. Turn it frequently until the skin is charred all the way around, about 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat and let cool. Using a clean dishcloth, rub off the charred skin. Remove the stem and seeds and cut the flesh into a fine dice. Set aside.
• Turn off the heat for the soup and stir in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each one with some of the red bell pepper. Serve immediately.

SWEET POTATO, COCONUT & LEMONGRASS SOUP WITH CORIANDER SAMBAL

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the spring onions, garlic, lemongrass and three-quarters of the ginger and cook for 2 mins until aromatic, then tip in the sweet potato. Give everything a good mix so the sweet potato is well coated, then add the coconut milk, stock and 500ml water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for around 25 mins until the sweet potato is cooked through.
• Meanwhile, tip the remaining ginger, the chilli, sugar, three-quarters of the lime juice and most of the coriander (reserving a few leaves for a garnish) into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Transfer the sambal to a small jug and set aside.
• Blitz the soup with a hand blender until smooth, then season to taste with the remaining lime juice and some salt and pepper. Divide the soup between bowls and top with the coriander sambal. Garnish with the reserved coriander leaves.