Celeriac & Quinoa Soup

This soup recipe uses celeriac (celery root) – which is in season at the moment. It has a savoury, slightly earthy but pleasant taste. If you haven’t tried it before I would definitely recommend giving it a go!

This soup contains both augmenting (quinoa & carrots) & extractive (celeriac & onions etc) and is great for Vata season (autumn to winter) especially if you are Vata or if you’re experiencing Vata imbalances. If you don’t know your Dosha (your Ayurvedic mind-body type), then take my Dosha quiz now!

Special equipment: 

Blender (preferably hand held)

Time needed:

About 45

Serve with:

Some yummy whole grain bread or toast!!

Ingredients (serve 4):

2 medium carrots
1 medium onion
70g quinoa
600 – 700g celeriac (celery root)
1 large potato (optional)
1 garlic clove (optional)
1,300 ml vegetable stock (follow the instructions on the packet)
Vegetable oil (sunflower / rape seed)
Black pepper to taste

Topping suggestion:

Toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds. (if you have vata imbalances, you might want to avoid them as seeds are hard to digest)

Method:

Chop your carrots & onions roughly.

Put a couple of teaspoons of oil into a large saucepan and heat – once warm add onions & carrots and saute until onions are starting to go soft. I keep the lid on to keep the steam in and stir occasionally.

Peel and chop potato and garlic.

Weigh and rinse the quinoa.

Peel & cut the celeriac into small chunks – say 1.5cm x 1.5cm.

Once onion is cooked (around 10mins) add in potatoes, celeriac, quinoa & garlic (if using).

Pour on the vegetable stock (preferably hot) and boil gently for around 30 mins, stirring occasionally. At this point I usually let it stand for a few minutes, but if you are in a rush there is no need.

Add some ground black pepper if you like.

Blend with a hand blender until smooth – if the soup is too thick add some boiled water until the right consistency.

Add your topping of choice and serve!