I once wrote a book entitled "Voyaging on a Small Income" and the parts about provisioning and cooking proved very popular. "The Voyaging Vegetarian" would have followed, but so few people were then vegetarians that I thought no-one would publish it. Now many more people realise that eating dead animals is unkind and bad for the planet. I hope a blog, which I can update with new recipes, will work better than a book for liveaboards and aspiring voyagers, and those living simply in small spaces.
Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called "Voyaging on a Small Income", which was published and sold astonishingly well. It’s become almost a “classic” and is probably why you’ve found this site!
I’ve been living aboard and sailing since the 70s. Nine different boats have been home, sometimes for several months, sometimes for many years. I love the way of life, the small footprint and being close to Nature. I’m a great fan of junk rig and having extensive experience with both gaff and bermudian rig, I wouldn’t have any other sail on my boat. It’s ideal as a voyaging rig, but also perfect for the coastal sailing that I now do. I’d rather stay in New Zealand, not having to keep saying goodbye to friends, than go voyaging, these days.
Between 2015 and 2021, I built the 26ft "FanShi", the boat I now call home. For the last 45 years or so, my diet of choice has been vegetarian and is now almost vegan. I love cooking and particularly enjoy having only myself to please. I am combining all these interests (apart, perhaps, from junk rig!) in this blog. I hope you enjoy it. I also have other blogs: www.anniehill.blogspot.com and http://fanshiwanderingandwondering.wordpress.com
This
isn’t what most Westerners would think of as a chutney. To us it
is more of a pâté or a spread. However, it tastes surprisingly
good and goes very well withlentil flatbreads.
However,
it’s also very acceptable as part of a ‛charcutérie’
board with bread or crackers. The tempering adds an exotic touch,
but isn’t essential, especially if there are other dips and pâtés
on the board.
Ingredients
1½ tsp oil
1 to 2 green chillies
or dried red chillies, to taste
1½
tbsp urad dal or chana dal
1/2 cup raw peanuts, OR
roasted peanuts
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp of garlic OR
ginger paste
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
1/2
tsp tamarind paste
Tempering (optional)
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp black mustard
seeds
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 tsp crushed garlic
1 pinch asafoetida/hing
(omit for GF)
Method:
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Fry chillies anddal until the dal turns golden.
Remove and set aside.
Add peanuts and fry over a medium flame until golden and
aromatic.
Add cumin to the hot peanuts. Keep aside to cool.
Transfer all these to a blender along with garlic/ginger,salt and 1/2 to 3/4 cup water.
If your are using it, add the tamarind paste.
Blend until it’s smooth.
Taste and add more salt and chilli if required.
Tempering (optional)
Add 1 teaspoon oil to the hot pan.
Next add mustard, red chilli and garlic. Fry
until fragrant.
Lastly add hing.
Turn off the heat and pour the
tempering over the chutney.
If
you are using roasted and salted
peanuts, don’t add any more salt
until you’ve mixed and tasted the chutney.
You can dry roast the peanuts
without oil.
Traditionally,
the peanuts are dry
roasted first and then the skin removed. In this case, brown the
skin as well as the nut to bring out the full flavour. A compromise
is to use blanched
peanuts and
roast them yourself. They
will add a better flavour to the chutney.
This is
another Indian chutney, that most of us would not recognise as such,
and while it may sound unpromising, it’s very good. Like the peanut chutney, it also
makes a very useful spread or dip, particularly with lentil flatbreads. The tempering
adds a bit more spice and an interesting appearance. If you’re
serving it with bread, or crackers, along with other ‛charcuterie’,
you might prefer it
without. It will still be both an unusual and pleasant addition.
Makes a good cupful
1 tbsp (coconut) oil
(divided)
2 tsp chana dal OR
roasted peanuts
1 tsp urad dal OR
sesame seeds
2 dried red chillies
(adjust to taste)
1/2 garlic paste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1 green chilli (adjust
to taste)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup carrots (chopped,
200 grams)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 to 2 tsp lemon juice
OR tamarind paste
Optional Tempering
1 tsp (coconut) oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 tsp garlic paste
1 pinch hing
(asafoetida)
Method
Pour 1 teaspoon oil to a hot pan. Add chana dal, urad
dal and redchillies to the hot oil and fry until the
dal turns light golden.
Add garlic,ginger
andgreenchillies. Fry until the dal turns
deep golden to light brown. Add cumin seeds, stir and remove
all of the fried ingredients to a plate.
To the same pan, pour 2 teaspoons oil. Add carrots,salt
and turmeric. Stir fry on a medium high heat for 3 to 4
minutes until fragrant. Covered and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until
tender. Turn off the heat and cool.
Add the cooled dal, ginger, garlic, chillies and cumin to a
blender and make a slightly coarse powder.
Add the cooked carrots and tamarindpaste/lemon juice.
Pour in 1/4cupwater. Blend to a smooth or
coarse chutney to suit your liking, scraping the sides as you go.
Taste and add more salt if you think it needs it.
Adjust the consistency to suit
with more water, if you want to.
To temper (optional)
Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin
seeds, chilli flakes and garlic paste. Fry until the
cumin seeds have changed colour and the spices smell fragrant. Add
hing and turn off.
Pour the tempering over the carrot
chutney.
Notes:
Leave out the hing for GF.
Chana
dal and urad dal are added for flavour and taste. However, for a
change, you can use roasted, skinned peanuts
and white sesame
seeds. Both work well but the chutney tastes different. Most of us
have salted peanuts on board and these can be used, but in that
case, add the salt after you’ve blended the chutney so as not to
over-salt it.
You
could make this without a blender, if you used peanuts
and sesame
seeds and either chopped the peanuts, or ground both in a Mouli.
The other ingredients would need to be cooked until they were very
soft and you might want to use a little cayenne pepper and ground
cumin instead of the whole spices. This would end up a little more
chunky, but none the worse for that.
Use young juicy carrots
and not old, tough ones. If they need peeling, rather than
scrubbing, they won’t go well in this chutney.
Ginger and garlic: I
love both, but you can skip one of them if you prefer. The chutney
is quite delicately flavoured, so follow the recipe and don’t use
too much.
Chillies: Dried chillies
add pungent flavours and heat while the fresh green chillies add
heat. You can use one or the other, if you prefer. I use green
chillies in brine due to the insane expense of fresh ones (in New
Zealand).
These
are a lazy way of making dosas,
which require a particular type of split lentil (urad dal) and
fermenting overnight, in a warm place, which often isn’t practical
when voyaging. Unfortunately, they do need a blender.
In due course, I’ll have a recipe for chickpea flour flatbreads
that don’t need one. I have tried making these by grinding the
lentils to make flour, but they weren't as successful as using the
soaked lentils in this recipe.
These
‛flatbreads’ are halfway between a roti and a thick pancake, but
are great hot or cold and excellent to serve with any sort of spread,
pâté
or dip, including some of the chutneys you will find on this blog.
This recipe has minimal seasoning, so as not to compete with whatever
you are serving them with, but fenugreek seeds are often used in
traditional recipes, so I have included them.
I
find the 150 mm/6 inch frying pan I use for tempering spices is
perfect for cooking these flatbreads. Any pan that you trust for
pancakes will be correct for these.
Makes
8 flatbreads
Ingredients
1/2 cup moong dal OR split red lentil
1 cup
water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2
tsp baking powder
oil
Method:
Put
the dal
into the blender jug and add the water, fenugreek and
salt.
Add
baking powder
if you want a fluffier flatbread.
Leave
to soak for at least an hour. (Use hot water to speed things up, if
necessary).
Once
the dal is well-soaked, blend everything into a smooth, thick batter.
If it’s still a bit gritty, leave for another quarter of an hour
and then blend again.
Heat
the pan and when you think it’s hot enough, dribble a drop of
batter into it. It should instantly start to set.
If
you think it may need it, add a tiny amount of oil to your pan and
swirl it around. Now add 2 tbsp batter, tipping the pan so that it
covers the base, or spreads itself into a 150 mm/6 inch disc.
Cook
until the surface looks dry and then flip the flatbread or turn it
using a spatula. Cook for another half minute or so and move to a
plate.
Add
a little more oil if necessary and then continue cooking all the
batter until it’s used up.
Notes:
The
flatbreads can be kept warm in a low oven, if you have one, or
between two warmed plates.
These
flatbreads are equally good warm or cold. To reheat them, stack them
in your frying pan and cover with a lid. Put them over a low heat.
After a few minutes, turn the stack over. The heat should spread
through all of them.
Variations:
Add
coriander, cumin,
nigella,chilli,
or any other spice that takes your fancy to add more flavour.
Omit
the fenugreek and use herbs such as oregano
or rosemary, and use instead of bread or rolls.
Add
a generous amount of garlic to the batter, and drizzle the warm
flatbread with a well-flavoured olive oil before serving.
I
created this soup one winters’ night, when I had a few mushrooms
left in the locker, and was growing tired of an everlasting
cauliflower that I'd bought. It was, I admit, a huge one, but as it was
the same price as the other ones, which were two-thirds the size, and super-expensive to
boot, I went for the best value for money. I love cauliflower, but
after 6 consecutive nights of eating it, I was ready for a change.
When I'm looking at recipes on line, I often see people suggesting puréeing
cauliflower to make a thick and creamy sauce. I thought I’d try
this idea, to save mixing up a nut cream – and also out of
curiosity. The resulting soup was delicious – better than I’d
hoped for – and I had the added satisfaction of cooking it on my
little fire. It is therefore very much a cream
of mushroom soup. With a slice or two of home-made longevity
bread, it made a filling and warming meal.
Serves 4 as a starter,
2 as a main course
Ingredients
4 or 5 large mushrooms
or the equivalent if smaller
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic
olive oil
approx 2 cups
cauliflower florets
1/2 tsp ground
coriander
1/4 tsp za’atar or
dried thyme
1/2
tsp mushroom stock powder
grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
Method:
Cut
the mushrooms into chunks – about the size of a small,
button mushroom.
Put
a cup of water into a large saucepan, together with a bayleaf and the mushrooms and bring to the boil.
Simmer
gently for a few minutes while you chop the onion and garlic.
Pour
the mushrooms and water into a bowl and set aside.
Using
the same pan, heat the olive oil and then add the onion and garlic.
Fry gently for about 5 minutes until translucent. Turn down the
flame if they’re starting to colour.
In
the meantime, divide the cauliflower into florets and dice
any stem that you’ve cut off in the process. Add to the pan when
the onions are softened.
Add in the ground coriander and stir everything around until the cauliflower is evenly coated.
Pour in the remaining three cups of water together with the water that the mushrooms
have been sitting in. Leave the mushrooms to one side.
Now
add the za’atar or thyme and mushroom stock powder,
if you have any. Bring to the boil and then simmer over a moderate
heat until the cauliflower is completely softened.
When it's cooked, mash the soup into a thick purée, or use a stick blender.
Return
to the heat and add the mushrooms. Grate over nutmeg and add
salt and pepper to taste. Be generous with the black pepper
– the soup can take it.
Note:
Add
some dried mushrooms to the water, with the fresh mushrooms for
increased depth of flavour.
This luxurious soup can be made from
whole asparagus. However, the following recipe allows you to have
your asparagus and eat it, so to speak, because it’s made from the
trimmings.
The best way to trim asparagus is to bend each stalk as
close to its base as you can. It will snap off just above the tough
section.
Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and
leave out the salt.
Serves 4 as a first course
Ingredients
The trimmings from a
bundle of asparagus
2 cups water
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup tbsp
butter/olive oil
1 tbsp flour*
salt and pepper
1 tbsp lemon
juice
freshparsley,
if available
6 tbsp thick (vegan) cream
Method:
Cook the trimmed asparagus: put
it on a raised trivet in your pressure cooker, so that it isn’t
immersed, and pour in 2 cups water. (You could stand it on end to do
this, but might need to cut it to size.) Bring to pressure and cook
for 1 minute. Reduce pressure rapidly if you like crisp asparagus,
naturally if you like it soft. Put the asparagus to one side for
another dish. Pour the water into a jug or bowl and set aside.
Cut
the trimmings into 2 cm/1 in lengths.
Finely dice the onion
and garlic. Melt the butter/oil in the pressure
cooker, add the onion and garlic and stir it until it’s all covered
in melted butter. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook gently for
about 5 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
Stir in the flour
and mix.
Add the reserved water that you used to cook the asparagus,
together with the trimmings. Bring to pressure and cook for 10
minutes.
Reduce pressure naturally and then mash
with a potato masher. Then pass the resulting purée through a sieve
to remove any stringy bits. Alternatively blend with a stick blender
or food processor
Return to the pan and season with salt and
pepper. Taste and add the lemon juice and more water
if you think it can take it.
If you like to have bits of asparagus
floating around in your soup, trim pieces from the ends of the cooked
stalks and add these with the lemon juice.
For a really thick and luxurious version, use all the asparagus.
This soup can also be made successfully
with canned asparagus. Purée the bottom ends of the stalks and keep
the tips to chop up and add to the soup with the lemon juice.
Not a main-course soup, but a
very pleasant starter. Carrots and lemons combine together
beautifully and the coriander complements both.
Use 1/3 seawater to
2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.
Serves
4 as a starter
Ingredients
1 onion
6 carrot
2 tbsp butter OR 1
tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp gram flour
2 tsp ground coriander
3 cups
water
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and
pepper
choppedparsley
Method:
Dice
the onion and carrots. Fry gently in the butter for about 10 minutes
in a covered pan. Stir every minute or so and don’t let them
brown.
When
the vegetables are soft, add the coriander and stir it in. Mix the
gram flour with 1/4 cup of water and add it to the pan, stirring it
carefully so that everything is blended .
Add
3/4 cup of water and mix again.
Pour
in the rest of the water and the lemon rind, if you have any. Bring
to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 20 – 25 minutes until the
vegetables are thoroughly softened.
Mash
to a purée with a potato masher, or use a stick blender, and season with salt and pepper.
Add
the lemon juice, reheat and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley, if
you have any.
I
first came across this soup in Norway in 1985 and have loved it ever
since. Although using a cauliflower for soup may seem rather
extravagant, you can usually get two meals out of a very large one
and make use of the stem, to boot. I love this soup; it has a
delicate, creamy flavour, which is even more delicious if you can
make it with butter rather than olive oil. I like to serve it with herb bread.
If you have any choice, try to use a floury potato for
this soup; for once, it should be peeled because the soup should end
up as a thick, greeny-white purée, which would be less attractive
with bits of potato skin.
Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea
is clean, and leave out the salt.
Serves
4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
OR olive oil/1 onion, diced
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1
small or half a large cauliflower
2½ cups water
1 tsp salt
2½
cups (plant) milk/pepper
grated nutmeg
Method:
Melt
the butter/oil in a large saucepan.
Add
the onion and potato and cook gently until they’re
softened. Don’t let them brown because the soup is meant to end up
white.
When
you can easily stick the point of a knife into the potatoes, break
the cauliflower into the pan. Dice the stalk. Don’t use
the leaves – they’re too dark. You can, however, use their white
stems.
Add
the water and salt and bring to the boil. Cover and
simmer for 15 minutes, by which time the cauliflower should be
thoroughly cooked.
Take a
potato masher or stick blender and purée the soup.
Pour
in the milk and bring back to simmering point for a few more minutes,
adding generous amounts of pepper.
Pour
into warmed bowls and grated nutmeg over before serving.
Variations:
Replace
some of the milk with cream for an extra luxurious soup.
This
is a substantial and well-flavoured soup, suitable for winter
lunches or a main meal. It would go very well with sun-dried tomato bread. The ingredients are not really voyaging vegetables, but they
keep reasonably well and you would still be able to make this soup a
week into your passage.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
at least 8 as a starter, 2 or 3 for a main course
Ingredients
3
large sticks of celery
1 leek
1 cup chickpeas, soaked
5 cups boiling
stock or water
2 bay leaves
1½ tsp oregano
3/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp
chilli
14 oz/400 g tin of diced tomatoes
handful
of finely chopped fresh basil or parsley, or 1 tsp dried
basil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
Method:
Thinly
slice the celery.
Trim
the leek, removing the root end and any discoloured outer
leaves; trim the top. Slice thinly, washing any slices that have
grit or soil lodged in them.
Drain
the chickpeas and put them in your pressure cooker, together
with the water/stock, celery, leek, bayleaves,
oregano, rosemary and chilli.
Bring
to pressure over a high heat and then cook at high pressure for 20
minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
Remove
the bay leaves and discard. With a slotted spoon, take out 4 or 5
spoons of chickpeas and put them in a bowl together with half the
tomatoes. Mash together to thicken the soup.
Put
the tomato/chickpea mix back in the pressure cooker together with the
parsley or basil and the vinegar. Season with
salt and pepper.
Simmer
for a further few minutes so that the tomato flavour permeates the
whole and serve hot.
This
recipe is a vegetarian replacement for fishchowder and I think that it is equally good: it’s rich and filling – definitely a
main-course soup when served with hunks of bread. For all that, it
would make a good starter, if you followed it with a light main
course.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course
Ingredients
1
onion, chopped 1
garlic clove 4
mushrooms, sliced 1
green pepper, chopped 2
potatoes, diced 2
tbsp olive oil 2
tbsp gram flour 2½
cups water OR vegetable stock 1
cup (vegan) milk 400
g (14 oz) can sweetcorn 1/2
tsp cracked black pepper salt 1
cup (vegan) single cream
Method:
Heat
the oliveoil in a large saucepan and add the onion,garlic,mushrooms and green pepper. Don’t let
them brown – the soup is meant to be very pale. If you prefer, you
can ‛sauté’ them in a little water until they are softened, and
then add the olive oil.
While
this is happening, peel and chop the potatoes. (If you prefer
not to peel them that’s fine, but the bits of peel do rather spoil
the appearance of the soup.) Add to the pan, stir and fry for a few
minutes. Lower the heat, cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Put
1/2 cup of the water in a mixing cup, add the gramflour and whisk to a smooth paste.
Add
this to the pan, together with the rest of the water. Stir gently
until the soup is about to boil, so that the gram flour is properly
incorporated.
Lower
the heat and cook until the potatoes are tender – about 10 minutes.
Add
the sweetcorn and the milk; reheat until boiling.
Stir
in the cream and reheat just before serving.
Variation:
1/2
tsp paprika or
chilli addsvariety
If you
can get hold of any, a handful of chopped, fresh parsley added
with the cream is delicious.
Use dried mushrooms, soaked in a little hot water for half an hour, to turn this into a voyaging soup.
Note:
Although
the potatoes serve to thicken the chowder, they should not
disintegrate and disappear. If you can only get very floury
potatoes, this is unavoidable, but they won't spoil the flavour of
your creation.
The
sweetness of carrots marries well with lentils and lemon, and the soup
comes out a very pretty orange colour. This recipe is intended for a
starter – main course lentil soup is generally thicker than this.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 as a starter
Ingredients
1
large onion
1
tbsp olive oil
1
tsp crushed coriander seeds
3
carrots
3/4
cup split lentils
4
cups water/stock
2
tbsp lemon juice
salt
and pepper
Method:
Dice
the onion.
Heat
the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Cover and cook
over a low heat for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile,
dice the carrots, scraping them if necessary. Add the coriander and
cook for a further minute, then add the carrots and lentils and stir
well.
Pour
in the water and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Cover,
lower the heat and cook for 25 minutes, by which time the lentils
should have disintegrated and the carrots should be completely
softened. Give them a little longer, if necessary.
Take
off the heat and mash into a purée, using a potato masher or a stick blender. Add the
lemon juice and season to taste. Add a little more lemon if you
prefer it to be slightly sharper.
Warming,
filling, nutritious and comforting: lentil soup is one of my
favourites. It’s also very quick to make and is ideal for lunch or
as a starter when unexpected guests arrive and you have to spread
your dinner further than anticipated!
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course
Ingredients
1
tbsp olive oil OR butter 1
onion
1
cup split red lentils
4
cups water
2
tbsp lemon juice
salt
and pepper
Method:
Heat
the oil in a large saucepan or pressure cooker. Chop the onion and
cook it for about 5 minutes until it has started to brown.
Stir
in the lentils, add the water and bring to the boil. If you are
using the pressure cooker, cook it for 5 minutes; if cooking
conventionally, simmer for about 20 minutes.
Reduce
pressure naturally. Using a potato masher or stick blender, purée the soup. Season
with salt and plenty of black pepper and add the lemon juice. Serve
piping hot.
Variations:
Add
1/2 tsp cumin and a garlic clove with the onion.
Chop a
carrot and cook it with the onion.
For a
delicious, quick Curried Lentil Soup, add one garlic clove
and some diced fresh ginger to the onion while it’s frying.
Stir in 2 tsp curry powder/paste just before adding the
lentils.Serve with chapatis.
Note:
You can make this soup thicker and more substantial by adding another 1/2 cup of lentils.
Mushroom
soup is lovely and because mushrooms are often something of a luxury,
is worth making with extra love and care. There are several
variations on the theme, which I give below. The initial recipe is
adapted from one of Rose Elliot’s and produces a very elegant
concoction, ideal for entertaining. The ones that follow are a
little more down to earth.
Butter
gives a richer flavour than olive oil.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 for a starter, 2 for a main meal
Ingredients
3
cups mushrooms
1
small onion
1
garlic clove
1/2
tsp tarragon
1
tsp green peppercorns, crushed
2½
cups water
(vegan)
milk
4
tbsp butter OR 2 tbsp olive oil
3
tbsp flour
salt
freshly
grated nutmeg
hot
sauce/cracked black pepper
2
tbsp sherry
Method:
Remove
the stalks from the mushrooms and put them in a large
saucepan, together with the quartered onion,garlic
clove, tarragon and green peppercorns. Add the water
and bring to the boil; leave to simmer for at least 10 minutes
to create a stock.
Pour
the liquid through a sieve into a measuring jug and make up to a
litre with the milk. Discard the mushroom stalks, etc.
Put
half the butter/olive oil into the saucepan and, when it
melts, stir in the flour and mix it for a few moments. Remove
the pan from the heat, pour in the contents of the jug and stir until
everything is thoroughly blended. Make sure that all the flour and
butter mixture is cleared away from the corners of the pan.
Return
the pan to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring continually.
Lower the heat and continue to stir for another 2 or 3 minutes to
cook the flour. Put to one side.
Slice
the mushrooms and fry them lightly in the remaining half of the
butter. When they’re softened, add them to the milk mixture in the
saucepan.
Reheat
to a gentle simmer while carefully seasoning with the salt,nutmeg and hotsauce/cracked black pepper
Simmer
for a further 3 or 4 minutes to let the flavours blend. Better
still, make the soup several hours before you need it and let it
stand, with a lid on, until you want to eat it. Reheat just to
boiling and serve with a dollop of sherry in each bowl.
Variations:
For a
simpler and quicker soup, dice the onion and garlic and fry it in the
butter until soft. Chop the mushrooms and cook them for a few
minutes. Add 1 tbsp cornflour, 2 cups water and 2 cups milk.
Stir until the cornflour is dissolved and then add the tarragon and
green peppercorns. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, season and
then simmer for 5 minutes. You can still serve this with the sherry!
Try
making a Lentil and Mushroom soup: Add half a cup of whole lentils. Use a standard onion,
garlic clove, half the butter or olive oil, the tarragon and green
peppercorns, 4 cups water and seasoned salt. Fry the
vegetables, add the tarragon and green peppercorns, then throw in the lentils and cook under
pressure for 10 minutes. Mash the soup with a potato masher or stick blender and then
season with the salt.
For
Mushroom and Potato soup: use a chopped onion, 3 cups sliced
mushrooms, 4 chopped potatoes, a litre of water, salt and pepper.
Fry the vegetables, add the water, bring to pressure and cook for 5
minutes. Mash lightly to thicken the soup and season. You can
substitute milk for up to half the water if you want; or stir
in cream after the soup is cooked.
Use
brandy instead of sherry
Notes:
While
this soup is also good with oyster mushrooms, I don’t
recommend cremini, portobello or Swiss mushrooms, which make the soup
too dark.
To make this soup gluten free, use 1 tbsp cornflour instead of the flour.
This
is an old standby, always popular and can be used either as a
filling, main-course soup or as a lighter starter, depending on how
thick you make it. I give the main course version as standard.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
2 as a main course
Ingredients
3
large onions
salt
2
tbsp olive oil OR butter
2 tbsp flour
1
litre water
1
tsp Marmite
pepper
Method:
Slice
the onions and heat the oil. Add about 1/4 tsp salt,
which speeds up the browning. Cook the onions until they’re just
on the edge of burning. The richness and flavour of this soup comes
from this stage, so don’t be impatient. If you cover the pan, it
speeds things up, but stir them frequently so that they don’t
actually burn.
Pour
in the water and then add the Marmite, if you’re using it.
This adds extra colour and flavour to the soup, but isn’t
necessary. (Use Bovril instead – as Conor O’Brien
recommends, in Across Three Oceans,but ensure it’s the vegetarian
one; or any other yeast extract paste which doesn’t contain sugar.)
Bring
to the boil and then simmer for at least 20 minutes or pressure cook
for 5 minutes.
When
the soup is about cooked, taste and season with more salt if it needs
it, and generous amounts of black pepper. It can take a lot.
Serve
with plenty of bread.
Note:
If you
want to make this soup less substantial, use 1 less onion and leave
out the flour.
To make the soup gluten free, use 2 tbsp gram flour
Variations:
Add a
generous measure of brandy or sherry to the bowl when
serving.
Serve
with grated (vegan) cheese.
In
France and Italy, the soup often has a slice of bread put on
top and cheese grated over this.
Add 1
cup grated (vegan) cheese and 1/4 cup (vegan) Parmesan
cheese to the soup, just before serving. In this case, don’t add
salt until the last minute, because the cheese will make it saltier;
and don’t reboil – this could make the cheese go stringy.
Split
peas are more a cool climate food because for some reason, they don’t
keep well in the tropics: after being on board for about a year, they
completely refuse to soften, even with pre-soaking and cooked in a
pressure cooker. Chana or toor dal might keep better, but I’ve
never tried. However, they would work well in this recipe, which,
while pretty much the same as lentil soup, tastes completely
different and makes a pleasant change when you’re eating a lot of
soup.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course
Ingredients
1
tbsp olive oil OR butter
1
onion
1
cup split peas
4
cups water
2
tbsp lemon juice
salt
and pepper
Method:
Heat
the oil
in a large saucepan or pressure cooker. Chop the onion
and cook it for about 5 minutes until it has started to brown.
Stir
in the split peas. Add the water and bring to the boil. If
you’re using the pressure cooker, cook for 5 minutes; if cooking
conventionally, simmer for about 20 minutes.
Reduce
pressure naturally. Using a potato masher, or stick blender, purée
the soup. Add the lemon
juice and season with salt
and plenty of black pepper.
Serve very hot, with warm bread and butter.
Variations:
Dal
Soup is a warming alternative. Chop 1 garlic clove and
some fresh ginger and fry it with the onion.Stir in
1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander and 1 tsp cumin.
Add 1/4-1/2 tsp chilli, if you want a soup with a bit of
zing. Cook as above. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice just before
serving with bread or chapatis.
Potato
soup is a favourite of mine. It’s very quick to make, cheap,
warming and filling, as well as being excellent cold weather food and
delicious with herb
bread. Although it’s a simple recipe, it’s full of good
things: iron, protein, vitamin B6, potassium, and vitamin C.
Potatoes are seriously underrated food. Unfortunately, especially in
the tropics, they’re often not the easiest of vegetables to come
by, nor the cheapest. If you want to eat soup in the
tropics, however, there are plenty of other recipes about!
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
2 as a main meal, 4 – 6 as a starter
Ingredients
1
onion 1
tbsp olive oil OR 2 tbsp butter 4
potatoes, preferably floury ones 3
cups water 1
cup (vegan) milk Annie's
seasoned salt and (cracked black) pepper freshly
grated nutmeg
Method:
Dice
the onion and put it in a pressure cooker, or saucepan, with the
olive oil or butter. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Peel
the potatoes, if you want to (I don't usually bother, because I like potato skins) – the soup will look more elegant without the skins –
and dice them. Add to the pan and stir for a couple of minutes.
Pour
in the water, bring to the boil and pressure cook for 5 minutes OR
cook for a further 20 minutes.
Mash
the potatoes thoroughly, to produce a creamy purée. You’ll still
have bits of onion (and maybe potato peel) floating around, but
that’s the way it goes in low-tech living. If you have a stick
blender, you can combine it all a lot more effectively.
Add
the milk and reheat to nearly boiling. Season with plenty of salt
and pepper. Ideally, potato soup should be a creamy-white purée,
but I don’t usually peel my potatoes, so don’t mind the ‛bits’
from the salt and pepper.
Put
into bowls and grate nutmeg over each.
Variations:
If you
have any fresh herbs, add themwith the milk.
Dried thyme and/or rosemary are also nice additions, but will detract from a white soup.
The
basic recipe is one of Rose Elliot’s, somewhat altered to suit the
realities of the sailing life. Spinach is a great and versatile
vegetable, when you can get hold of it. Its close relatives, such as
Swiss chard or curly kale, can nearly always be substituted for the Real Thing.
Sometimes the stalks are a bit tough – the easiest way to test this
is to bite a piece off and see how stringy it is when raw. If they
seem too much of a good thing, cut them out and just use the leaves.
Not infrequently, spinach is sold in large packs and unless you
happen to be somewhere cool, it will not keep for more than two or
three days. This soup is a good way to finish off spinach, because
as with most soups, more or less of one ingredient does not ruin the
overall dish.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
2 as a main meal, 4 – 6 as a starter
Ingredients
1 tbsp
butter OR olive oil
1
large potato, peeled and chopped
1
onion, chopped
2
garlic cloves, chopped
A
bunch of spinach – about 450 g (1 lb)
4 cups
of water
1 tbsp
lime or lemon juice
salt
and pepper
nutmeg
Method:
Peel
and chop the potato; chop the onion and garlic.
Heat
the butter or oil in a large pan and add the potato and onion. Cook
for about 5 minutes, but don’t let them brown.
Meanwhile,
coarsely chop the spinach. Throw this into the pan and turn it with
the other vegetables. Pour in the water and bring to the boil.
Reduce
the heat until the mixture is just simmering; cover and cook for 15
– 20 minutes.
Take
out a piece of potato and check that it’s thoroughly cooked. If
it’s of a floury type, it should be crumbling away.
When
the potato is thoroughly softened, mash the soup with a potato
masher , until it’s thickened. You will be left with bits of onion
and spinach floating around, but that’s all right. If you prefer use a stick blender to purée the soup.
Season
carefully with salt and pepper; add a very generous grating of
nutmeg and stir in the lime juice before serving.
Variations:
This
soup’s character can be completely transformed by adding a 400 g
/14 oz tin of tomatoes, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp
coriander.
If
potatoes are unavailable, a sweetpotato could be
substituted.
Instead
of a potato, use one or two plantains and stir in a tbsp of
curry powder/paste.
Use canned spinach.
Try
serving with a dollop ofyoghurt – especially if you’ve
made the elegant, liquidised version
This
is a pretty soup, with a West Indian feel to it. I prefer to make it with orange or yellow sweet potato or kumara.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
2 for a main course, 4 for a starter
Ingredients
2
large or 1 very large sweet potato/kumara
1
onion
2 tbsp
olive oil
2 red
peppers
1
litre water
2 tbsp
cream of coconut
salt
and pepper
lime
or lemon juice
Method:
Peel
and dice the sweetpotatoes, dice the onion.
Heat
the oil in a pressure cooker and cook the kumara and onion
over a medium heat, for about 10 minutes.
Heat
the peppers over a flame until the skins bubble and then peel
them. Chop them and add the to the other vegetables and mix well.
Add
the water, bring to the boil and pressure cook for 10 minutes.
When the pressure has reduced, mash with a potato masher or stick blender, until the
vegetables are reduced to a purée.
Return
to the heat and stir in the creamofcoconut.
Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add lime or
lemon juice.
Most
of us were brought up with Heinz or Campbell’s soups, and their
Cream of Tomato Soup is the standard by which all are judged. Fresh
tomatoes make lovely soup, but if you are trying to achieve that
almost-cloying sweetness of Mr Heinz’s comfort food, it’s best
obtained via tins. As this makes the recipe particularly appropriate
for voyagers, I include it with some satisfaction.
The
following recipe is simplicity itself, and actually pretty wholesome,
to boot, especially when served with large hunks of freshly-baked
bread.
If
you’re feeling particularly wealthy, the milk can be replaced with
cream. Take care not to boil the soup once the cream has been added,
because, particularly if it’s canned or UHT, it may well separate.
Use
1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the
salt.
Serves
2 for a main meal, 4 as a starter
Ingredients
1
small onion
1
large knob of butter OR 2 tbsp olive oil
2
tbsp gram flour
3
cups water
150
ml (5½ oz) tin of tomato purée
1/8
tsp dried, minced garlic
1/4
tsp basil
1/4
tsp dill (weed)
1
tsp honey
1/2
tsp salt
1
cup milk
Dice
onion and fry gently in the oil or butter.
Remove from the heat and
stir in the gram flour. Gradually add the water until all the
flour is blended; return to the heat.
Bring to the boil, adding the
tin of tomatopurée and stirring to mix it in.
Reduce
the heat to a gentle simmer and add the basil and
dill, honey and salt. If you prefer to leave the
honey out, do so, but it’s necessary for the Heinz effect. Add the
milk and pepper.
Simmer, very gently, for about 10
minutes. Ladle into warm bowls.