The slow cooker chef: Delicate parsnip soup spiced with Garam Masala recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Starters and Soups | 27 comments
Parsnips were on sale – 2 for 1 in Tesco’s last week. Great, I thought, I’ll make parsnip soup. The parsnips had knocked about on the larder floor for so long that even Danny had given up asking what I was going to do with them. It was time to make the soup.
When D was secreted in the Rat Room upstairs, I peeled, diced and popped them into the slow cooker with some rich chicken stock, onions and a teaspoon of Garam Masala. I love this light combination of spices, not too overpowering to kill the sweetness of the parsnips. Interesting enough for Danny to examine the tin carefully when he stepped into the kitchen a few hours later.
In fact I had read the pack too. I didn’t realise that Garam Masala can be added at any stage in the cooking process and even used to sprinkle on food at the table. I discovered that Fiddes Payne spices are available from Tesco. Much cheaper than Bart’s, their Garam Masala is a winner. I did buy their Cajun spice mix but gave it away as cumin dominated and I live with a cumin hater. Bart’s win hands down here, Cajun spice with no spice bully in the mix.
I had taken a peek at Delia’s recipe for parsnip and apple soup and it seemed a bit of a palaver although I loved the idea of a topping of parsnip crisps (chips). Danny had never tasted parsnip soup so I wasn’t keen on adding apple. before he has sampled this sweet, delicious soup.
Our parsnip soup is sweet, mildly spicy and easy – making and eating. No spiciness that forces an examination of the trachea and beyond. Low fat too as there’s no need to fry the onions. 4 hours in the slow cooker and a happy smiling face when I got in from work this evening.
The soup is great naked but dressed and titivated with some creme fraiche and chopped parsley it is stunning.
Delicate parsnip soup spiced with Garam Masala recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 kilo of parsnips
- 250g of onions
- 1.5 litres of hot chicken stock (vegetable stock could be used instead)
- 1-2 tsp of Garam Marsala
- salt and ground white pepper to taste
Method:
- Peel and chop the onions
- Peel, top and tail the parsnips and chip into 3cm lengths of similar thickness
- Toss the vegetables into the slow cooker and add the hot stock and the spices
- Cook on auto for 4 hours.
- When the parsnips are soft blend the soup. I used the stick blender
. And season with salt and ground white pepper.
- Serve with creme fraiche and chopped parsley
Leave a reply
Hi Pat (Bulgaria),
Thanks for the help!
Michelle
Hi Pat (Bulgaria)
I have just retrieved your comment – it got caught in the spam filter!
Thank you so much for contributing this recipe – much appreciated!
Hi Amanda
Thanks for that. I must look out for cassia bark.
Thanks also for telling me the ingredients in your Garam Marsala mix. Can’t wait to try making my own!
Hi Clare
I thought slow cookers were so dull until I met Angela. Now it turns out loads of people use them! There is a slow cooker cook book in the house where I’m working in Saffron Walden and I thumb through that at lunch time. The SC is so versatile, it can even bake cakes.
Thanks for the rice pudding recipe, much appreciated.
Hi Steph
Danny is great and consumes quite a bit of cumin without realising it!
Danny always sounds so lovely, and Irish to boot. But no cumin?! Move on, girl 😉
Hi Pat
I thought that your sprout soup looked good and am planning to make some!
Fiona, this sounds much nicer than my sprout soup I made the other day. I think I have a few parsnips laying abou in the fridge. Thanks!!!
Some dear friends of mine gave me a slow cooker a few years ago, to help student-me to eat properly. I’d never used it much, but inspired by you I’ve found it again!
As a first attempt, I decided to make some rice pudding, and thought you might like the ‘recipe’. I put 4oz rice, 4 dessertspoonfuls of sugar and 1.5 pints of milk into the cooker, dusted with grated nutmeg (and studded with a few knob-ettes of butter) and left it on low overnight. Result: really creamy, hot rice pudding ready in time for breakfast! (my northern boyfriend loves rice pud for breakfast… don’t ask!)
I did wake in a cold sweat at 4am convinced it had gone dry and burnt, but no! I’m going to try next time with slightly less sugar and a bit less milk as it was quite runny.
Definitely going to try the soup! I’ll buy some parsnips tonight I think!
Sorry I didn’t mean to hit submit comment, I hadn’t finished.
Everybody who makes their own garam masala has their own version. If I told you mine I’d have to kill you. Sorry, thought I was with my children pretending to work for M15 there….
I use corainder seeds, cumin seeds (ssh,don’t tell Danny), black (brown) cardamon, cassia bark, black pepper and cloves.
I have put nutmeg in before but tend not to.
I may have done a post about it, I’ll have to check, if not there’s definitely a draft post on it, which I’ll have to publish.
cassia bark is like cinnamon
Hi Pamela
Thanks for this recipe for nip nip soup! I have half a swede will get some more parnips at the weekend to try this. Thanks for sharing.