This creamy cauliflower soup will warm you up from the outside in and the inside out.

Starting with the base we have our allium vegetables – onions, leeks and garlic. These are not only packed with prebiotic fibres which feed the healthy bacteria in our gut, but they also provide us with a good dose the bioactive compound quercetin which powerfully switches on the anti-oxidant producing genes in our body.

Cauliflower, the star of the dish, then enters the picture. Cauliflower also provides the body with fibre, and if prepared correctly, it can also be a good source of the bioactive compound sulforaphane, which ‘switches on’ detoxification pathways in the body. A great tip, for when time is not an issue, is to chop the cauliflower at least 60-90 minutes before roasting because this allows for the sulforaphane to develop in the cauliflower prior to heating the vegetable. If time is a problem, which for most of us it is, you can chop the cauliflower earlier in the day and leave it in the fridge until you are ready to make your soup.

Fresh thyme and turmeric don’t just finish off the flavour of this soup, but they add an extra nutritional boost by imparting anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. As I always say, your herbs and spices are your natural concentrated forms of nutritional supplements.

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower head; cut into florets (around 600g)
2 medium-sized leeks
2-3 cloves garlic; depending on their size
1 medium yellow onion
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tin reduced fat coconut milk
5 cups vegetable stock (depends how thick you like your soup)
1½ teaspoons turmeric
Handful fresh thyme
1 lime (2 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper

Method

 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180°
2 On a roasting tray place the cauliflower florets as well as 2-3 whole cloves of garlic. Drizzle half the olive oil onto the cauliflower and garlic, sprinkle over some salt and roast for 20 minutes until golden brown.
3 Place a large soup pot on a medium heated stovetop.
4 Finely chop the onions and leeks. Remove the thyme leave from their stalks.
5 Pour the remaining olive oil into the already heated pot followed by the onion, leeks, turmeric and half the batch of thyme leaves. Sauté for 3-4 minutes.
6 Add the roasted cauliflower as well as the whole roasted garlic cloves into the pot and mix the ingredients together to allow the flavors to combine.
7 Add a tin of reduced fat coconut milk as well as 5 cups of vegetable stock and the juice of the lime to the pot.
8 Allow the soup to simmer for a further 10 minutes. Blend the ingredients together to form a smooth soup and add more liquid if preferred.
9 When serving the soup, garnish with the remaining fresh thyme leaves.

Tip 1: The amount of stock you add depends on the consistency you like. If you like thinner soups, you may have to add more stock once it’s all blended.
Tip 2: If you are limiting your saturated fat intake you can add yoghurt to the soup instead of coconut milk.

Nourish yourself to the sunrise.

Cooked with love,
Sunrise by HM

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