This soup is incredibly simple and straightforward – but has the craziest natural bright blue purple/blue colour! Flavour-wise it’s really no more than a low-calorie base recipe to which flavours and toppings can be added and modified endlessly.
The two colour effect is achieved by playing around with the pH of the soup! By adding small amounts of baking powder the soup turns less acidic, and with that slowly turns blue. Add even more and the soup will turn a vivid shade of green. This base recipe makes 4 portions at roughly 92kcal/portion.
Ingredients (4 portions):
- 80g/~1 small Onion (33kcal) – Chopped finely
- 145g/~2 small Potatoes (113kcal) – Chopped finely
- 675g Red Cabbage (208kcal) – Sliced
- 1 Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cube (15kcal) dissolved in 500ml of water
- ~500ml Water
- 1 clove Garlic – minced
- ~1/2 tsp Fennel seeds (optional)
- ~1/2 tsp Cumin (optional)
- Baking powder
- Milk/any plant-based alternative. I used almond milk.
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Method:
- Heat up a splash of water in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic, saute for a few minutes until softened and fragrant
- Add the potatoes, stock cube with half the water and salt and pepper – let cook until potato is soft 5-10 minutes.
- Add the Red cabbage, rest of the water, fennel and cumin. Cook until cabbage is soft and the liquid is a vivid purple colour. ~10minutes.
- Mix the soup until smooth using a hand-mixer – making sure to be careful as it is very hot and may splash.
- Split soup equally into three different (ideally white to observe colour shifts!) bowls.
- Leave bowl 1 as it is, this is your purple part.
- Add the milk/milk-alternative to the second bowl, this is your lighter purple.
- The third bowl will be your blue part. Slowly add baking powder in 1/4 teaspoon increments, stirring thouroughly and waiting a few minutes to observe the colour achieved. Repeat until it reaches the desired colour. If you take it too far you can add some lemon juice or other acidic element to bring the colour back towards purple.
- Final step is to combine the three into whatever pretty constellation you wish in a bowl!
Store the soup parts in separate bowls if you want them to keep their distinct colours.
Hope you enjoy this simple soup! Please let me know how you get on and tag me in any posts/stories on IG using this recipe so I can see your tasty creations.
