Vegan Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Chermoula

Sometimes I DO treat my body like a temple rather than a cake shop.



Vegan Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Chermoula
Serves 4

For the Soup:
1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 1 hour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1.5 litres vegetable stock

For the Chermoula:
from Alice Hart's Vegetarian
1 small bunch parsley leaves
1 small bunch coriander leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
75ml olive oil
1 lemon, juice and zest

Make the Soup:
Pour the oil into a large pan, heat it over medium heat  and add the onion. Cook for a few minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another minutes. Tumble in the cauliflower florets and toss them in the oil and vegetables. Cook for about 5 minutes. Don't let the vegetables brown, they should just be sweated down.

Pour in the vegetable stock, bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the cauliflower is so tender you can crush it with a wooden spoon. Add the cashews and remove it from the heat to cool slightly.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and blitz until smooth. Push the mixture through a fine sieve to make it velvety and pour it back into the clean pot. Return it to heat to make sure the soup is piping hot when you serve.

Make the Chermoula:
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and whiz to finely chop the herbs. This amount with make more than you need for the soup. You can store it in a jar in the refrigerator for a week and slather it on everything during the week.

To Serve:
Ladle the soup into four soup bowls and drizzle with the chermoula.