Simple Spiced Potato Soup
This is one of my go-to recipes, a whatever-happens-to-be-in-the-cupboard special. I sometimes add a chopped chilli to the onion, and some coriander from my window ledge herb box, but I have given the basic recipe below – feel free to customize it as you wish. when it comes to my lunch, I can be an impatient oik so I tend to chop the tinned potatoes into small cubes. It makes no difference to the final product, just means that they cook quicker. I like to serve this soup with pitta bread.
Serves 2
1 onion
a splash of oil
a few generous pinches of ground cumin or turmeric (whichever you have available)
1 x 500g tin of potatoes (approximate drained weight)
1 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 200ml boiling water
150ml natural yoghurt
Peel and chop the onion and put into a saucepan with the oil and cumin. Cook on a low heat for around 10 minutes to soften the onions into a spicy sweetness.
Drain the tinned potatoes, cut into small cubes and tip into the saucepan. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.
Tip everything into a blender along with the yoghurt and blitz until smooth and creamy. Add more water if necessary – I find different tins of potatoes come up differently.
Serve and enjoy!
Tips: I sometimes like to add spinach to this soup and a tiny dab of mustard, to make it a bit more exciting. If there are any Spiced Spinach Potatoes left over (see Saag Aloo recipe), this is a brilliant use for them. Just add in place of the tinned potatoes.
‘Simple Spiced Potato Soup’ recipe from A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe.
Twitter: @MsJackMonroe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
Categories: Recipes & Food, SUPER SOUPS, VEGETARIAN
This looks really nice. I’ve copied it into my folder, thanks very much. It’s a good basic with plenty of scope for variation. As I make my own yoghurt it would come out even cheaper, I think. Guess what I’m going to make for lunch today! 🙂
I wonder if it freezes.
J x
Any idea where i can pick up a stick blender (or any blender!) for really cheap?
Tesco value range do a blender for less than a tenner – it’s pretty good too!
Thanks Jack, i’ll have a look when i get paid 🙂
Tesco have one for £4.15 at the moment.
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-hb07-150w-05l-hand-blender-white/205-2793.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=205-2793
Reblogged this on one swallow makes a summer.
How much potato is there in a tin?
V easy and sounds nice! Have you tried freezing it? If so did it work? I tend to try to do a batch of stuff..
Have just tried making this – added the very green ends of a leek (well washed and chopped to the onion mix) to make it a leek and potato soup and it tastes gorgeous. Just going to make the lemon sponge – or rather my 2 & 3 yr old are. Wish me luck!
Hi Jack,
I’ve noticed you’ve started using tinned potatoes and veg in some of your more recent recipes – is there a particular reason for this? Do these replace the mixed veg bags you used to buy for £1? If buying by the tin works out cheaper and easier then I can understand it and would consider buying them myself, but I’ve always shied about from buying them in the past, as I presumed they wouldn’t be as nutritious…do you know if is this the case?
Hiya – yes Sainsburys stopped stocking the £1 veg bags a few months ago, so instead I typically buy loose onions, tins of potatoes and tins of carrots instead.
I get anything from 12-20 potatoes in a tin depending on how teeny tiny they are – but 14p for 540g of potatoes is the equivalent of 26p per kilo! And they use less fuel to cook as they are softened by the water.
Morrisons do a large bag of carrots for 69p, and onions for the same, but I’m not really near one.
And I bet they don’t go off as quickly as normal potatoes either, so you can keep them as cupboard essentials! I’ve always been pretty reliant on pasta and rice-based dishes as I can never seem to get through a bag of potatoes (impossible to buy loose potoatoes in most of my local supermarkets) before they go off….this might just be the answer to that problem!
Thanks, Jack 🙂
Ps – loving the sound of the goulash recipe you put up today – can’t wait to try it!
This was delicious. I put a bit of paprika, dried garlic and mixed herbs in it to give it a kick. Such a simple recipe but tastes amazing. Will definitely be making this again.
Well…. what can I say ??????
This soup is TOO good for words…I added a bit of parsley to the mix,and used my £4 Blender from Sainsburys to blend…..
I deliberately left the soup a little chunky,as I like my soup like that…
Going to have the rest tomorrow for lunch…
I do have one problem though Jack…..
How do I stop myself eating those little pesky potatoes BEFORE I get them in the saucepan….??????
I just cant resist them….lol…
Thank you Jack. I’ve just made this for lunch and it was lovely I changed the chicken stock for veg stock. Went down very well with the family xx
Just made this for my lunch (with veg stock rather than chicken as I’m veggi) and just wanted to say it was really nice. Much tastier – and cheaper- than tinned soup. Added a bit of mustard as per your suggestion and was really tasty. Added some spinach to the leftover soup so tomorrow’s will taste slightly different.
Loved this soup! There should have been enough for lunch tomorrow but it all went. My husband can’t eat onions or yeast (so the stock cube’s out) and I’m vegan but I used real potatoes instead of tinned as I had some in the fridge and adding some cassia bark and a tiny bit of turmeric to the water I boiled them in then saving it replaced the stock. Also added a bit of white pepper and some paprika and the mustard you suggest and used soy yoghurt instead of dairy and it’s definitely going to be one of our regulars now. Thanks Jack!
I like your Potato Soup Recipe; I wish I could perform same as you cook a Potato Soup. This would in fact help me a lot… Thanks for the recipe! I will keep coming back again in your site in case you keep posting a real wonderful recipe such as this.