Thickening Soup

[Julian H]

Hi all,

I'm making some roasted winter vegetable soup on the weekend (if time allows).

The recipe I have states to add cream / butter at the end, to turn the broth-thing into a creamy soup-thing.

What is the vegan alternative to this stage? Someone suggested soy-yoghurt but I'm not 100% convinced this will work. If it will work, is there a specific kind that I need?

Cheers,

J

[fiamma]

I'm not sure if you want to thicken the soup or make it creamier - to my mind they're different things. You could try soya cream, but I'm not sure how this reacts when added to hot liquids. I doubt it would be a problem but it would be a shame to ruin your soup at the last minute. Soya milk (unsweetened) would be an alternative if you're looking for creaminess. If you want to thicken it you could transfer part of the soup (half maybe) to a different bowl, blend it so it's smooth, and stir it back in. Potato is another good ingredient for thickening soups. Good luck :)

[Risker]

You could try soy cream though the last time I did that it curdled which meant the soup had loads of little white bits floating in it, if you let the soup cool a bit before adding it though it should be ok.

Pure spread is a good alternative to butter.

As fiamma suggests, if you want to thicken it then I would use potato.

[fiamma]

Good point about the soya cream curdling Risker, that was my fear. I know soya milk does that in coffee sometimes, so be careful if you want to use it. I never use soya milk in soups, I say potatoes are the way to go. They do give quite a soothing creaminess to soups which is great in winter.

[Korn]

Hi Julian,


A soup and a sauce sometimes/often use the same ingredients (for taste and texture), so maybe this will be interesting for you:

Vegan sauce. (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6952)

[harpy]

I'd go with fiamma's suggestion of blending part of the mixture and adding it back in, or if you're feeling really lazy (as I always am :o ) you could just mash the veg a bit in the pan with a potato masher - that does make a surprising different to the texture I find.

[Cherry]

I use unsweetend soya milk to make soup 'creamy' as I find soy cream a bit sweet. If you're blitzing up your soup though I'm sure it'll be perfectly fine as it is! People do tend to add dairy products to things completely unnecessarily.