This soup hits you with deep flavor from the medley of roasted cauliflower, coconut milk, spices and aromatics. It’s a pretty flexible recipe too; add/remove/modify ingredients and it will likely still be fine or even better. For example, if you don’t have curry leaves or dried shiitakes, don’t sweat it. Those ingredients enhance the aroma and flavor of the dish but their absence are not showstoppers. Also, if you don’t have vadouvan, I *suppose* you can substitute with curry powder. Just don’t tell anyone.
Note: Some of the affiliate links below may provide me with commissions, at zero cost to you. For more info on affiliate links on this site, click here. I greatly appreciate your support!
So, the blending process is really important in this recipe. You want to end up with a smooth and creamy texture without lumps of cauliflower, veggies or other debris. While I’m confident that you can get nice texture from an immersion blender, I highly recommend investing in a powerful countertop blender like a Vitamix. In terms of speed, reliability, and convenience, these blenders don’t mess around!
For reference, here’s what your working with before blending:
Lastly, keep in mind that the coconut milk and oil make this a fat-centric meal in terms of macros. If this is prohibitive with regards to your fitness/nutrition goals, reduce the amount of coconut milk and/or oil used in the recipe, or swap with light coconut milk. Or say if you’re trying to get more unsaturated fats in your diet, you could replace the coconut milk in here with cashew cream.
Cauliflower Coconut Curry Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 6 tsp oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 large carrot
- 1 clove garlic
- 2-4 chilies (thai peppers)
- 2 tbsp vadouvan (curry powder)
- 1 dried shiitake mushroom
- 7 ounces coconut milk (1/2 can)
- 2 cup water
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 stem curry leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Separate cauliflower into florets and toss in a bowl with 3 tbsp oil, salt and pepper. When oven is ready, add cauliflower to baking sheet and roast, tossing occasionally until tender and charred on ends, about 20 minutes.
- While cauliflower is roasting, dice onions and carrots and add 3 tbsp oil to a heavy pot over medium heat. Then add onions, carrots, a healthy dose of salt and pepper, and cook until onions are translucent and carrots are soft.
- Finely mince the garlic and chillies, then add them to the pot and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the vadouvan and whole dried mushroom and cook for another minute or so.
- Add roasted cauliflower, coconut milk, and water and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the dried mushroom and throw away (or eat it!). Time to liquify the mixture. If you have a heavy duty blender (like a Vitamix) just pour everything in there and blend until completely smooth and liquified. Otherwise use an immersion blender, blend in batches, or whatever else works.
- Add puree back into the pot and cook for another 5-10 minutes. At this point you’ll want to add water if it’s too thick and check for seasoning.
- Add 1 tbsp coconut oil to a small pan over medium-high heat. Add curry leaves and >important > be careful not to get attacked by spluttering oil! Fry leaves for 30 seconds or so and then add to soup. Stir to combine, then serve!