Recipes > Savanna Soups

Warm Avocado Soup with Biltong

Ingredients
  • 2 large, ripe avocado pears, mashed
  • 1T butter or margerine
  • 1T flour
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups milk
  • A dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)
  • Diced biltong and chopped parsley to serve
Method

Peel, stone and mash the avocados, adding a little lemon juice to stop them from going brown. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and when it is melted, stir in the flour to make a paste. Add the chicken stock bit by bit, stirring to prevent the paste from forming lumps. After the chicken stock, add the milk and stir. When the milk has been heated a bit, add the mashed avocado and stir well. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tabasco. Do not let the avocado boil as this will make it taste bitter! At this stage, I also give the soup a quick whirl with my beloved Braun hand mixer to get it really smooth and creamy. Dice some biltong (about a tablespoon per serving of soup) into small blocks, chop some fresh parsley and sprinkle on each bowl of soup before serving.
Serves 4 to 6 people.

Notes

If you add lemon juice to the avocado, go easy on it - you don't want its taste to interfere with the soup. You can substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock if you are cooking for vegetarians. The Tabasco can also be replaced with a couple of chilli flakes, but both are entirely optional. If you can't find biltong, you could also use crispy bacon bits for a similar effect. The most crucial thing is NOT to let the avocado boil!

 

Chilli Biltong Soup

Ingredients
  • 125 ml butter
  • 2 beef stock cubes
  • 10 ml coarsely ground black pepper
  • 2 ml whole nutmeg, grated
  • 2 ml freshly ground coriander
  • 250 ml cake flour
  • 500 ml milk
  • 2 l boiling water
  • 250 ml coarsely grated Cheddar cheese
  • 200 g finely sliced moist chilli biltong
  • cream and port to taste
  • 100 g grated blue cheese
  • bread sticks for serving
Method

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Crumble the stock cubes and add along with the spices. Add the flour and heat, stirring continually until the flour begins to simmer. Mix the milk and boiling water, and slowly stir into the flour mixture. Stirring continually, heat slowly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the Cheddar cheese and half the biltong. Do not bring the mixture to boil again. Keep warm until ready to serve. Stir in a little cream and port just before serving if desired. Ladle the hot soup into deep soup bowls and scatter a little of the remaining biltong and crumbled blue cheese on top. Serve with bread sticks.

 

Cape Seafood Soup

Ingredients

FISH STOCK
  • 300 g frozen prawns in their shells (optional)
  • 65 ml lemon juice
  • 1 small crayfish tail (optional)
  • 1 kg fish heads and bones
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 sprigs lemon thyme
  • 2 l water
  • salt
SOUP
  • 30 ml olive oil
  • 1 large leek, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • 25 ml chopped fresh lemon thyme
  • 125 ml dry white wine
  • 1 large potato, peeled and finely chopped
  • 65 ml tomato paste
  • 2 ml fennel seeds or sprig of fennel (optional)
  • 5 ml sugar
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 250 g hake fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 30 ml chopped fresh parsley
Method

FISH STOCK: Shell the prawns (if using) and remove the vein. Reserve the shells but remove the heads and discard. If using, remove the crayfish meat from the shell, reserving the shell. Cube the meat. Set the prawns and crayfish meat aside for the soup. Place the prawns and crayfish shells, fish heads and bones, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf and lemon thyme in a large saucepan, add the water and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer uncovered for about 35 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Strain the stock through a sieve and then strain again through a finer sieve lined with a double layer of muslin cloth. You need 1,5 litres (6 c) stock for the soup.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the leeks, garlic and celery until tender and flavoursome. Add the tomatoes, thyme and wine. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered until the vegetables are soft. Add the fish stock, potato, tomato paste and fennel seeds and simmer until the potato is tender. Season with sugar, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the fish cubes, prawns and crayfish meat to the soup. Simmer until the fish is just done. Add the lemon juice, sprinkle with parsley and serve with fresh bread.
Serves 6 to 8 people