Technically, many soups are spiced in some way, even if it’s just with pepper. But we all know what is meant by a spiced soup: something with a jolt to it, and a bit of heat to warm up a winter evening. When it comes to soup, spice is the ultimate companion to a main ingredient that may otherwise be considered boring or bland. In this sense, the spices are the most important component: they are what the soup will taste of.
But which spices go with which ingredients, and how? Here are 17 different recipes to help you figure that out.
Nigel Slater’s spiced suggestion offers more promise than your standard carrot soup. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
A word of advice: making soup is, by and large, a pretty forgiving endeavour. Presentation is not paramount, and amounts can be varied without much risk. A soup should ideally be made from things you already have to hand, so don’t give up on a recipe for the sake of a single missing ingredient – it will almost certainly be fine without it.
One other thing: you’ll want to have a stick blender at the ready; almost all these soups are either wholly or partially liquidised before serving.
Thomasina Miers’ Moroccan lentil and carrot soup is spiked with cumin. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura/The Guardian. Food stylist: Aya Nishimura. Prop stylist: Louie Waller. Food assistant: SongSoo Kim.
Let’s begin with carrots. Nobody gets too excited at the prospect of carrot soup, but a spiced carrot soup such as Nigel Slater’s – spiked with cumin, coriander and chilli – offers a bit more in the way of promise. Thomasina Miers’s Moroccan spiced lentil and carrot soup combines cumin and paprika with cinnamon and ginger, and is served with lemon, yoghurt, coriander leaves and some crispy kale. Not a bad way to use up three carrots on a cold weekday night.
My traditional method for dealing with leftover parsnips – letting them rot in the vegetable drawer of the fridge before binning them – can certainly be improved upon. Here are three possibilities: Angela Hartnett’s spicy parsnip number; Jamie Oliver’s spiced parsnips with lentils, and Delia Smith’s take, with curried parsnip and apple.
Angela Hartnett’s spicy parsnip soup with onion bhaji. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
Delia’s recipe makes use of a wide spice palette, including ginger, turmeric, cardamom and coriander. If the grated apple strikes you as a weird addition, rest assured that it happens right at the end and may therefore be considered optional. The parsnip crisp garnish, on the other hand, sounds essential.
Celeriac can be a troublesome leftover, not least because it’s hard to use up a whole one in one go. Yotam Ottolenghi’s celeriac, garlic and rice soup offers one bold strategy. It’s infused with roast garlic and cinnamon, and served with a charred lemon salsa – that is to say, lemon slices that have been fried on both sides and finely chopped with parsley and spring onion.
Ottolenghi’s roast-garlic infused soup is a bold way to use up leftover celeriac. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian
One rarely buys cauliflower while in an adventurous mood, but it can provide a solid basis for a densely flavoured winter soup. Hetty McKinnon’s cauliflower soup with pomegranate seeds and smoky baba ghanoush is a perfect example, as is this Moroccan spiced cauliflower and almond soup.
Pulses often feature as a thickener in spiced soups, but they can also serve as a main ingredient. Nigella Lawson’s split pea soup with chilli ginger and lime is simplicity itself – the yellow split peas are simmered with spring onions, chilli and garlic for an hour, before adding vegetable stock powder, ginger and lime (juice and zest). That’s it – serve topped with coriander, more chilli and more spring onions.
Mandy Yin’s Malaysian chicken curry laksa calls for a record-setting range of spices. Photograph: Martin Poole/The Observer
Next up, two quick recipes that rely on black beans straight from the tin: Rukmini Iyer’s spiced black bean and tomato soup, and a black bean and chicken soup with kale. The first is spiced with smoked paprika and freshly ground coriander (Iyer cautions against ready-ground coriander, saying “it tastes like despair”); the second features tinned tomatoes and leftover roast chicken.
The combination of pumpkin and spice is closely associated with a disgusting seasonal coffee, but do not let that put you off
The combination of pumpkin and spice is nowadays more closely associated with a disgusting seasonal coffee than a hearty winter soup, but do not let the association put you off. Ottolenghi’s roasted pumpkin soup with harissa and crisp chickpeas is a little bit involved – you’ll need preserved lemons, dried apricots, rose water, cardamom pods and possibly the afternoon off.
José Pizarro’s spiced roast squash soup includes fried chorizo. Despite the name, Anna Jones’s green peppercorn and lemongrass coconut broth actually has half a butternut squash in it, and only 15 green peppercorns. She recommends either fresh or brined for the grassy punch they give. I recommend you don’t overlook this recipe just because you have neither.
Ravinder Bhogal’s quick mussel and rice soup with Turkish pul biber chilli flakes and kefir. Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian. Food styling: Sam Dixon. Prop styling: Rachel Vere.
Ravinder Bhogal’s quick mussel and rice soup is spiced with Turkish pul biber chilli flakes and enriched with kefir. This spicy peanut butter and corn ramen is quick – it takes no more then 20 minutes, as long as you’ve got gochujang, smooth peanut butter, sweetcorn and pak choi within reach.
Finally, here’s a chicken curry laksa from Mandy Yin, featuring a range of spices that may set some kind of record: star anise, ginger, cumin, turmeric, coriander (ground and leaf), chilli (dried, fresh and powdered), garlic, tamarind paste and shrimp paste. You’ll almost certainly have to go shopping beforehand, but then your store cupboard will be set for the year.
