Celeriac and cumin soup with watercress

Another soup?! I am working my way through a variety of ingredients making lots of soups, keeping us warm in the cold winter.
The ground isn’t frozen so we can still pick vegetables from the allotment. There isn’t as much to pick as there is in the summer but the cabbage is looking amazing.
The fennel is still good for picking. It has a very intense flavor.
There is still curly kale, one of my favorites.
The celeriac isn’t as big as in the stores but absolutely delicious.
I didn’t like celery until just a few years ago and celeriac was never on my wish list. I would eat it but never choose it myself. Like and dislike for certain foods changes over the years so I always try what I think I am not so keen on and one day I realized that celery is absolutely delicious, and with that, also celeriac.
Celeriac is a humble vegetable that is just as good roasted, pureed or like here, in a soup. It is a filling ingredient and works well with all kinds of protein.
I wanted to add more flavor depth to the soup and started with Shaoxing rice wine. The soup needed slight acidity so I added rice wine vinegar and finally for a smooth, salty flavor I added fish sauce.
Celeriac and Cumin soup
preparation time 10 minutes
cooking time 15+20 minutes
serves 2-3
Ingredients
- 1/2 celeriac, peeled and cubed
- 1 potato, peeled and cubed
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 10 dl or 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 tsp Rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Garnish (optional)
- fresh watercress leaves
- watercress oil
- a small pinch of cumin seeds
Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. Once they start “spluttering” add the onion. Turn the heat down and fry the onion soft but not brown.
Add the celeriac, potato, chicken stock, Shaoxing rice wine, rice wine vinegar and fish sauce. Let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes.
Place the soup in the blender and blend until smooth.
Whilst the soup was simmering I cut thin slices of my beetroot and caraway bread, added slices of goats cheese and red onion and baked them until the cheese melted and started to caramelize.
When the soup is ready plate up and add leaves of watercress and watercress oil. Coriander, parsley or baby spinach would also be nice.
Add a sprinkle of cumin and serve.
I have a feeling that there are many more celeriac recipes to be discovered and cooked. if you have any please let me know!
Comments
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[…] pretty soup, this time from Petra at Food Eat Love; celeriac and cumin soup with watercress. This looks as though it would keep us warm in the cold winter nights. Cumin is an interesting […]
I love the flavour combination of this soup and your cabbage does look very pretty:)
hi Monika
Thank you! The soup was delicious. The cabbage looks like it is worth waiting for 🙂
I spotted watercress in this recipe Petra – do you have any tips for simple dressings that pair well with it? Not a green I’ve purchased before but they have huge bunches at my new local farmers market…..
Hi Laura
If you eat rocket salad you can replace this with watercress. A simple lemon and olive oil dressing is always delicious, perhaps some fine chopped shallot onions or spring onion. Watercress is also lovely as a pesto, mix with lemon juice, a clove of garlic, a chilli (with or without seeds), nuts or toasted sunflower seeds and cheese, or dessicated coconut perhaps? 🙂
Thank you Petra – great tips and love the idea of a pesto with dedicated coconut!
Hi Laura
Am glad I could help 🙂
Loved the recipe
Thank you so much 🙂
All of your produce looks fab!!!
Sadly I don’t think I will ever like celery 😦
Thank you! I did pretty much everything I could to avoid celery until one day when I all of the sudden liked it! Very strange but good. There are things I used to like more that I now like less as well! 🙂 x
Can you believe that I used to dislike tahini????
Ha ha oh Elaine! Am glad it changed 🙂 x
Me too!
Beautiful winter treat! I would call you “Queen of soups” Your soup recipes and presentatiins are amazing.
Hi Sumith
Thank you so much! That is so sweet! Am in a be of soup mode as of late and am glad you like them 🙂
Interesting combination of flavors, never tried a similar soup, it looks fantastic!
hi Chef Kreso
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! If you try it I hope you like it 🙂
I had celeriac soup last fall when we were in Austria. Your version sounds great.
hi Jack
Thank you for linking up. I hope the week has been good! x