Soups For a Good Cause

Apart from writing a cookbook, having your own food truck is probably on top of many food bloggers bucket list. Luise and I have been secretly planning and dreaming about, not a food truck, but a food bike. We would re-build a Christiania bike to suit our needs and then bike around Stockholm and sell healthy whole foods like salads, soups and smoothies. Doesn’t it sound like a fun idea? Our goal was to do it this summer, but time flew past us. So now we are aiming for next summer…

Meanwhile, at least half of our dream has just been fulfilled. A while back we where asked to develop two soup recipes for Church of Sweden’s food truck. Yep, they actually have their own food truck. And, yep, they asked a Jew and a Danish hippie to develop their recipes. Apart from just being the church, they are working internationally together with act alliance with humanitarian aid and working against poverty and starvation. Right now they are focusing on Haiti and Cambodja and they asked us to develop two soups inspired from these countries to be sold in their food truck. The truck will do a tour around Sweden during the next two weeks, selling our soups, and all earnings will go to humanitarian aid. It’s a wonderful idea and we are happy to be part of it.

The truck will start out in Stockholm tomorrow, on Friday the 14th March. So if you are in town, head to Tulegatan/Rådmansgatan on Friday around lunch, and try either the Cambodjan inspired Rice Noodle Soup, or our Haitian inspired Sweet Potato & Corn soup. Good food for a good cause. We have also posted the recipes here below, so all our international readers can make them at home.

Cambodian Noodle Soup with Tofu & Lemongrass
Serves 4 – 2 liter / 1/2 gallon

The Cambodian rice noodle soup is not as well known as the Vietnamese cousin Pho, but at least as good. It has a different set of flavours – lemongrass, ginger and lime add freshness and the coconut milk adds a rich and creamy touch.  We made this version with tofu, but feel free to substitute with mushrooms or broccoli. Serve with a generous amount of bean sprouts, fresh herbs and lime.

4 cups / 1 liter vegetable broth
2 stalks lemongrass
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 inches / 5 cm fresh ginger, peeled
1/2 small chili, seeds removed
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp sea salt

250 g firm tofu
1 x 400 ml full fat coconut milk
whole grain rice or buckwheat noodles for 4 servings (250 g)

To serve
2 limes, cut in wedges
1 handful bean sprouts (100 g)
1 handful coriander/cilantro or thai basil

Prepare the vegetable broth in a large saucepan. Chop lemongrass, garlic, ginger and chili very finely and place in a mortar. Give them a few pounds with the pestle to release the juices (or use the back of a chef knife). Pour in the fresh spice mixture into the broth. Add honey and salt and let simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain the broth, to remove the spices. Slice the tofu into 1 inch / 2 cm pieces and add to the broth. Add coconut milk and let simmer for a few minutes on low heat. Cook noodles in a separate pot, according to the instructions on the package. Drain and divide the noodles equally into 4 serving bowls. Cover with broth and a couple of tofu pieces. Squeeze lime juice over each bowl and garnish with lime wedges, cilantro and bean sprouts.

Haitian Corn & Sweet Potato Soup
Serves 4 – 2 liter

This soup is loosely inspired by the traditional Haitian pumpkin soup ‘Soup Joumou’ – a pumpkin and beef soup oozing of clove. We used sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin and replaced beef with corn. The soup is soft and creamy with a nice sweet flavor, a hint of clove, and cabbage and carrot chunks for chewiness.

1 onion
1 large sweet potato
5 dl/330 g corn, thawed frozen works great
4 cups/ 1 liter vegetable broth
2 carrots
1/4 cabbage
1 small chili
1 lime, juice
1/4 tsp ground clove or more to taste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sea salt

Serve with yoghurt and fresh thyme

Peel and chop onion and sweet potato into small cubes. Place in a saucepan, add corn and vegetable broth. Bring to boil, lower the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes until the sweet potatoes cubes are tender. Use a hand (immersion) blender to puree completely smooth. Peel the carrots and slice into 1 inch / 2 cm slices. Cut the cabbage into the same size. Add carrots, chili (whole), lime juice and the spices. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the chili from the soup and add the cabbage, let simmer for 2 more minutes. Tatse and adjust salt and ground clove. Serve in bowls with a dollop of yogurt and some fresh thyme.