COLD TOMATO EGGPLANT SOUP WITH CASHEW NUT CREAM

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

- 500 gr tomatoes, fresh

- 1 pc eggplant

- 10 gr garlic

- 10 gr onion

- 100 gr tomato paste

- 100 ml olive oil

- 100 gr cashew nuts

- 200 ml water

- To taste: salt, pepper, cilantro

- To taste: lemon juice, vegetable stock

Steps:

1. For the cashew nut cream: Soak nuts in water overnight, blend using high speed. Add water if the mixture is too thick. 

2. Char the eggplant skin over fire until the skin is very well charred and the eggplant is a bit soft. 

3. Peel the skin off but keep a few small chunks of skin for a smoky flavor and cut into medium sized chunks. 

4. Cut the tomatoes into quarters - try to pick very ripe. Red. Flavourful tomatoes or if not available you can also use canned pelati tomatoes. 

5. In a pan, fry the chopped garlic and onion and add the tomato and eggplant. Season well with salt, pepper and cilantro and only give it a very quick stir to mix all the ingredients well. 

6. Place all in a mixer and blend it very well until nice and smooth- set aside. 

7. Add the cashew nut cream to the soup to give it a nice cream consistency-please note that this recipe depends on the liquid of the tomatoes. If they are not very juicy you might way to consider to add some vegetable stock to give a better consistency. 

8. Blend it all together in the mixer, season to taste with lemon juice or your preferred vinegar and place in chiller. 

9. The soup can be served very cold as a refreshing meal and garnished with chopped spicy cashew nuts. 

10. It can also be frozen into savoury popsicles for a party. 

11. It also goes great as a warm soup with some seafood added or some stale bread that has been tossed in a garlic butter. If eaten warm you might want to consider adding a bit more liquid into it. 

12. This soup is a very versatile base to get your soup adventures started!

Sumber majalah: the Foodie magazine, October 2015