Witchy Kitchen

Tag: carom

  • Hotroot Soup

    Hotroot Soup

    As a child I somehow missed the Redwall books, Brian Jacques’s fantasy series of anthropomorphic animals in medieval times running around adventuring, which is unfortunate because I would have loved them! I’ve started two separate books (I started the first one, Redwall, and then – record scratch – the dish I wanted to make is well described in the fifth, Salamandastron, so then I started that one) and they’re just so beautiful and immersive and I can’t wait to find out more about the richly detailed world as I work my way through the series.

    There’s lots of food in the series, which is how I because aware of it in the first place as Diana of Fiction Food Cafe and Catherine of The Gluttonous Geek were talking about it on Twitter. They both have cooked from it, and planned a #RedwallAugust event where we could all cook and share; of course I was all over it, I love that medievally forest food.

    Hotroot soup is a dish that’s sprinkled throughout the series, and is especially beloved by the otters. It’s described as being a pot of “shrimp and bulrush soup, flavored with watercress and hotroot pepper, simmering gently on the embers of the kitchen fire.”

    For mine, I built a lovely flavorful broth; though you can’t simmer shrimp a long time because they’ll be rubbery, the trick is simmering their shells for a briny shrimpy flavor. The shrimp are gently poached and the greens wilted right before serving.

    Green onions stand in for the bulrush, and the titular hotroot here is a favorite of mine, Kashmiri chili. It’s deliciously smokey and spicy, gives a gorgeous red color, and can be powdered – which would make sense as in the book the little otters have a hotroot soup-eating contest and are scooping it in by the pawful!

    Redwall Hotroot Soup

    • 1 pound shrimp, rinsed and deveined
    • 1 onion, trimmed, peeled and quartered
    • 1 carrot, trimmed, peeled and cut into large chunks
    • 1 stick celery, trimmed, peeled and cut into large chunks
    • 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
    • 2 sprigs rosemary
    • 4 sprigs thyme
    • 1 teaspoon carom seeds (can sub celery seeds)
    • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
    • salt
    • 1 tablespoon ghee, clarified butter, or butter
    • 2 green onions, whites sliced and greens cut into long strips
    • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili (can sub half paprika/half cayenne, or a combo tweaked to your spice level)
    • 1 small bunch watercress, roughly chopped
    • lemon slices for serving

    Peel shrimp and save in the fridge, reserving shells. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil with the shrimp shells, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, rosemary, thyme, carom and fennel seeds, and a teaspoon of salt. Lower to a simmer and simmer, covered, for at least one hour, preferably two hours.

    Strain and reserve the broth. In the pot, on medium, heat the ghee, clarified butter, or butter. Gently cook the green onion whites until softened. Add the Kashmiri chili, and cook for about a minute until fragrant, stirring and being careful not to burn. Add the broth to the pot and bring back up to a low simmer. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Add onion greens and cook until soft. Add shrimp and half the watercress (reserving the rest for garnish) until shrimp is pink and watercress is wilted, about two minutes.

    Serve hot with watercress and a nice spritz of lemon.

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  • Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    This month for MENA Cooking Club, the lovely group I’ve been cooking with to try more Middle Eastern and North African recipes, the country was Oman, hosted by Rafeeda of the mouthwatering blog, The Big Sweet Tooth.

    This month also happens to fall during Ramadan. As I’ve been reading about Ramadan traditions around the world, it seems most Middle Eastern countries have a traditional iftar (fast opening meal) of a light soup of lentils and/or vegetables, humble food to kind of adjust the digestive system, gently bring it back to life. Makes sense, seems very peaceful and measured…then the Pakistani tradition, as far as I can tell, is party food: pakoray, dahi baray, papri chaat, rooh afza! Fried goodies and sugary drinks, at least we’ve got some watermelon or fruit chaat to balance it out, and I’ve been throwing in some roasted veggies or a fresh tomato salad as well.

    Anyway, since this month was Oman and one of the suggested recipes was a vegetable soup, that’s what I chose to make because it seemed like an appropriate iftar dish. I focused on carrots and fennel and added some Middle Eastern spices. Several of the soup recipes I looked at were thickened with oats, which I found interesting, so I tried that here. It gave the soup a nice creamy texture that I’m sure is much healthier than actual cream, so I might be trying that trick more often. I’m happy with the garnish too, I shaved a carrot and fried the shavings into crispy little carrot chips to sprinkle on top – I always garnish, it makes even the most mundane dish a little special.

    Please, friends, I’d love to hear more about your iftar traditions!

    Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 2 small bulbs or 1 large bulb fennel, sliced
    • whole spices: 1 teaspoon ajwain seeds (you could sub a little dried thyme), 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
    • powdered spices: 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon red chili
    • 1 pound of carrots
    • 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
    • 4 cups chicken broth

    In a large pot, heat butter/ghee and saute onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add fennel and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or so until fennel is softened. Add whole spices and stir for a minute, add powdered spices and stir for a minute more.

    Add carrots, oats, and 2 cups of the chicken broth. Stir well, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and simmer until carrots are very soft. Puree in a blender and return to the pot. Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth and heat back through.

    Serve garnished with crispy carrots (below) and chopped fennel fronds.

    For the crispy carrot garnish

    Peel and trim a medium carrot. Shave carrot into thin slices with the peeler. Heat a pan with oil and shallow fry the carrot in batches, until no longer bubbly and is beginning to turn golden. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.