souper

winter is a good time for earthy soups with root vegetable stock. the bag of parsnips in the fridge gathering moisture inside was begging to be used and so was the solitary sweet potato sitting in the basket outside. we had some fresh baguettes and a bottle of red wine to go with it.

peel the potato(es), sweet potato(es) and parsnip(s) and cut into inch cubes. i used just one medium sized sample of each. boil them till they become nice and soft and then let it cool. retain the water for use later.

in a little olive oil, fry finely chopped garlic, ginger and sliced chillies. just an inch of the orange coloured hungarian wax pepper was enough to provoke lachrymation. red pepper flakes could be substituted or left out altogether. then add sliced onions and fry till translucent. add some dried oregano and basil leaves and saute till it starts smelling divine. then add the water saved from the boiling and simmer for a little bit and let it cool.

in a blender, puree the boiled tubers and then add the fried onion-garlic-ginger and blend them. return it to the stove and simmer on low flame after adding water and diluting it to required consistency. salt and sugar as necessary and garnish with cilantro.

the wax peppers turned out to be extremely potent but lent a wonderful fruity warmth reminiscent of habaneros even though they are advertised as mild. it also seemed to complement the wine's fruity notes rather well. this was a sauvignon-shiraz blend from australia that turned out pretty decent, considering it was a cheap 6$ bottle.