Creamy Tomato Ackee Soup (Vegan)

Chantal

An easy creamy ackee soup with a tomato base. Ready in less than 30 minutes, a cozy warm up for fall and easy enough to be made on a weekday.

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American, caribbean, jamaican

Servings 4 6oz Portions

2 tsps Fennel seeds
2 tsps Coconut oil
2 tbsps Onion chopped
2 cloves Garlic thinly sliced
1 to 2 tsps Scotch bonnet pepper minced, optional
3/4 cup Canned crushed tomato with basil (Or equivalent amount fresh tomato grated on shredding part of box grater)
1 can Ackee drained (approximately 2 cups boiled and drained)
2 cups Vegetable stock up to 4 cups if desired
Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a heavy bottomed dutch pot over medium-high heat and toast the fennel seeds till fragrant - about 1 minute. Once toasted remove from pot and set aside a teaspoon of the fennel seeds for garnish.
Return the pot to the heat and add the coconut oil, then add the onions and cook for about a minute.
Next, add the garlic, toasted fennel seeds and scotch bonnet pepper if using, cook for another minute or two till the garlic and onions have softened.
Turn down the heat to medium and add the crushed tomatoes, cook for 5 to 7 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent the tomatoes from sticking to the pot.
Add the ackees and cook for about 3 minutes till they are heated through.
Pour the mixture into a food processor and puree till smooth.
Return puree to pot: For a completely smooth soup, pass the mixture through a sieve, if you don’t mind a few bits you can pour the puree straight back into the pot - depending on how powerful your food processor is, some of the fennel seeds may have escaped the blade.
Add stock and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. If you want the soup to be thinner add up to 4 cups of stock.
Pour into serving bowls and garnish with a drizzle of coconut milk and a sprinkle of the fennel seeds and basil leaves.
Enjoy!

For a truly decadent soup: replace half the stock with coconut milk.