This pea and lemongrass soup is utterly stunning and a riff on the very popular roasted cauliflower, leek and coconut curry soup I made earlier in the year. It’s quite amazing how lemongrass and coconut milk have the most evocative flavour that instantly transports you to some wonderfully exotic Asian landscape. They have to be one of my all time favourite flavour combinations.
The soup is really simple to make and makes good use of cheap frozen peas which, despite the name, are actually as fresh as the day they were frozen in the field and therefore packed with nutrients and vitamins. They’re so sweet too which works really well in this dish.
Summer or Winter
The soup also works served warm or chilled from the fridge so is perfect for these wintry evenings or will work in the summer months too!
- 500g frozen peas
- 150g potatoes (any will do) – chopped
- 1 courgette – chopped
- 1ltr vegetable stock
- 1 tin (400ml) coconut milk – I used the Sainsbury’s one
- olive oil
- 1 small onion – finely chopped
- 1 thumb-sized nugget of fresh ginger – peeled and finely grated
- 2 lemongrass stalks – snapped in a few places
- 1 clove garlic – peeled and finely grated
- salt, pepper and fresh lemon thyme if you can find it (plain thyme would work equally well.)
In a large pan, gently warm a little butter (if using) and olive oil, then add the onions, garlic and ginger and sauté for a few minutes until the onions begin to soften. You want a little colour on the garlic and ginger but make sure they don’t burn. Then add the potatoes and allow them to saute gently until they begin to soften – roughly 5 mins.
Season well with salt and pepper and fresh lemon thyme if you have it, then stir in the courgette and lemongrass and saute for a further minute or so.
Pour in the stock and frozen peas and turn the heat up till the soup begins to bubble, then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 5 mins until all the veg are nice and soft.
Turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool by half, then add the coconut milk.
Blitz with a handheld blender until beautifully smooth. Reheat to serve or, let it cool entirely and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours and serve ice cold.
For more soup recipes check these out on Dom in the Kitchen.
Eat and of course, enjoy!
