Gushing Sungolds - by Clare de Boer
If you like the crisp edges of lasagne, the soaked croutons, the whipped cream that gets icy around the chocolate scoop - you’re in the right place.
Hello! I had another recipe ready to share, and then I made this: A hot, shimmering, rocket of a soup that had to launch immediately.
The headline ingredients here are Sungold tomatoes and ginger, but they’re grounded by an earthy broth of yellow lentils, and pulled up by chili oil and lots of lemon juice. It’s not a bowl of gentle comfort, it’s a jolt that’ll jog you from a hangover, allergies, apathy.
The recipe is a wish for rasam, made from ingredients I had within arm’s reach. It doesn’t use the usual seasonings for the South Indian soup (tamarind, mustard seeds, curry leaves) but is built on the same flavor pyramid: a bare minimum of lentils to lay the foundation, tomatoes for sweetness, something sour (lemon here), then a tempering of spiced oil (I used my usual dried Calabrian chilis).
Spice level is the only place you could go wrong, so know your chilis. This soup is meant to make your lips prick but not to make you cry. Add half the chili oil to the soup, taste, and add the rest if it’s right for you. If you want more heat, temper more chili in oil before adding it - don’t add it raw. If you make yours too spicy, muffle the heat with a swirl of coconut milk. But better save the rich, fatty approach for days you have less to accomplish.
HOT & SOUR SUNGOLD SOUP
Serves 4
Edible sunshine is hyperbole, but I’m going with it. Small cherry tomatoes are a fine substitute for Sungolds: they won’t follow the color story but they’ll still burst like gushers in the mouth.
1 cup yellow lentils
1 tsp turmeric
1 oz peeled ginger (~2 tbs grated)
2 lbs ripe tomatoes
1 lb Sungold tomatoes
½ cup olive oil
½ tsp chili flakes
Stalk of basil
½ lemon
Rinse the lentils then put them in a saucepan with 2 quarts of water, a tablespoon of Kosher salt and the turmeric. Grate in the ginger. Bring this to a boil, then skim any scum that foams on the surface. Turn the heat down to a simmer.
Chop up the big tomatoes into roughly one inch dice. After about 20 minutes, when the lentils are completely soft and beginning to disintegrate, add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 5 more minutes before adding the Sungolds. Cook for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and the basil stalk. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if you’d like it (it’s easier to get salt levels right before adding the chili).
Warm the olive oil with the chili flakes in your smallest saucepan. When the chilis start to bubble, pour half of this infused oil into the soup. Stir it through and taste. You’ll probably want to add some more, but this is up to you.
The soup will separate a little as it stands, so give it a stir as you ladle into bowls.
Eat with white rice…and if you’re constantly trying to find ways to eat more salmon that aren’t boring, here is one: drop filets (skin off) into the soup at the same time you add the Sungolds. Simmer for three minutes, switch off the heat and continue with the recipe. The carryover heat will poach the fish gently. Hot & sour Sungold salmon.
Piling tomatoes in a bowl makes a sanctuary for mold and flies. They will rot as they ripen. Store tomatoes buttons down in a single layer - on sheet trays lined with paper towel to wick away dribbling juices, or on a non-reactive rack so they can drip freely.
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