Spicy laksa or dal: 20 best soup recipes – part 1 | Food (2024)

The idea of adding mussels to a bean and pasta soup gives a whole new lease of life to an old staple. There are so many handed-down regional recipes for these kinds of soups, which inevitably start rows among Italians as to which is the most authentic. In the summer it is also good if you allow the soup to cool down before serving.

To prepare mussels, scrub the shells really well under cold, running water, removing any beards. Discard any mussels that are open or that don’t close if you tap them against your work surface. Once cooked, discard any that haven’t opened.

Put the dried (or freshly podded) beans into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for about 45-60 minutes for fresh beans, around 1-1½ hours for dried, until they are just soft.

Transfer three-quarters of the beans to a blender with a little of their cooking water (reserve the rest); blend to a soup consistency.

Heat the olive oil in a separate pan, add the leeks, shallots, carrot and celery, and then the garlic and rosemary. Cook gently for 2 minutes, add the tomato purée and cook for another minute, then lift out the garlic and rosemary and discard them.

Add the reserved beans with their cooking water, along with the blended beans.

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for about 2 minutes or according to the packet instructions, then drain and add to the bean soup along with the shelled mussels and some of the reserved cooking liquid. Transfer to a large, warmed serving bowl. Add the marjoram, taste and season. Sit the mussels in their shells on top and garnish with the extra marjoram. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and finish with black pepper.
From Made at Home by Giorgio Locatelli (Fourth Estate, £26)

Ping Coombes’s Nyonya curry laksa

For the garnish
mint leaves 1 bunch
medium free-range eggs 2, soft- or hard-boiled, peeled and halved
lime wedges 4
shrimp chilli oil 4 tsp
crispy shallots to serve

For the laksa paste
dried red Kashmiri chillies 8
dried shrimps 25g
round shallots 4 small, peeled and roughly chopped
lemongrass stalks 4 (tender base only), roughly chopped
galangal 30g, peeled and roughly chopped
ginger 30g, peeled and roughly chopped
garlic 4 cloves
turmeric 1 tbsp
shrimp paste (belacan) 2 tbsp
candlenuts 6, or macadamia nuts
vegetable oil 2 tbsp, plus 5 tbsp for frying the paste

Place the dried shrimps in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to rehydrate for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Once the chillies have softened, drain and split them lengthways. Remove the seeds with the blade of your knife and discard. Cut the deseeded chillies in half.

Place all the paste ingredients, including the rehydrated chillies and shrimps, in a blender and blitz to a smooth paste.

For the chicken and prawns, rub the chicken thighs with salt and set aside for at least 20 minutes at room temperature.

Place the chicken in a saucepan, cover with the water and a pinch more salt, add the lemongrass, bring to a simmer and poach over a low heat for 15-20 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool, then cut the meat into strips, discarding the skin. Poach the prawns for 2-3 minutes in the same poaching liquid. Once cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Instead of using water, you can use the poaching liquid to make the laksa broth – just top it up with water until it reaches 1.2 litres and discard the lemongrass stalk.

Place the rice vermicelli and bean sprouts in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 5 minutes, then add the fresh yellow noodles to the hot water and leave for 3 minutes. Drain the vermicelli, bean sprouts and noodles and divide them between 4 serving bowls.

Arrange the chicken, prawns, a few mint leaves and the egg halves on top of the noodles.

Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a bowl or jug and remove the bean curd puffs. Place 3 slices of puff on top of each bowl of noodles. Make sure that the broth is still piping hot (heat it again if not), and pour it over the noodles.

Serve with the lime wedges, shrimp chilli oil and a sprinkling of crispy shallots.
From Malaysia by Ping Coombes (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £25)

Ali Borer’s d’tom yam nam sai

First make the nam prik pao. Gently shallow fry the dried chillies, shrimp paste, shallots and garlic in the vegetable oil until golden. Pound the fried mixture and the coriander roots with 1 tablespoon of salt into a paste and gently shallow fry again until you have the consistency of rough jam. Skim off the oil, and use this at the end to adjust the heat of the soup. Season the nam prik pao with fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. Set aside – the mixture and oil can be stored indefinitely.

Add the chunks of monkfish and the remaining galangal and lemongrass and take off the heat, stir through the nam prik pao and allow it to sit covered for a few minutes. Add the roughly torn sawtooth coriander, kaffir leaves and chillies.

Season with fish sauce and lime juice to your taste and some of the chilli oil retained earlier. Serve immediately.
Ali Borer is chef and co-owner Smoking Goat, London E1

Olia Hercules’s papushka’s borscht

Serves 6
pork ribs 2kg
onions 2, peeled
carrots 2 medium, scrubbed, 1 grated
celery 2 sticks, chopped
bay leaf 1
allspice berries 10
peppercorns 10
beetroot 2 medium, peeled and julienned
tinned chopped tomatoes 400g
red chilli 1, bruised with the side of a knife
potatoes 4 small, peeled and cut into 8 wedges or ½ celeriac, peeled and diced
savoy cabbage ¼, sliced
garlic 2 cloves, peeled and finely grated
ginger 5cm knob, peeled and finely grated
chopped dill 2 tbsp

Put a large pot of cold water on, around 4 litres. Drop in the pork ribs and one of the onions, sliced in half, followed by the celery and the whole carrot, roughly chopped. (Really, you can use any stock vegetables you have at home.) Add the bay and spices and bring everything to the boil. Skim and discard any froth. Season gently with salt and cook over the lowest heat possibly for about 2-3 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. If it is evaporating too fast, top up with cold water.

Meanwhile, skim the top of the stock with a ladle. You are collecting the fat – do not discard it! Pour it into a large, deep frying pan and let the extra water sizzle off, leaving you with just the fat. Dice the other onion and add it to the pan. Cook it over a medium heat until it starts turning golden. If it goes too dry, add some more fat from the stock. Then add the grated carrot and cook some more until the carrot is also soft. Then add the beetroot and cook for another 3 minutes. Finally add the tinned tomatoes, bruised chilli and season well with salt and pepper.

Strain the stock into a large bowl, discard the veg but add the meat back in – if the ribs are properly falling apart, get rid of the bones – and pour it all back into the pot. Add the frying pan contents into the stock along with the potatoes or celeriac. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the cabbage. It is done when the potatoes or celeriac are cooked, but not too soft.

Make sure you taste for seasoning at the end, then add the grated garlic and finely grated ginger at the very end. Serve with plenty of dill or your favourite soft herbs and some crusty fresh bread.
Olia Hercules is a London-based chef and food writer

Romy Gill’s dal soup

Wash and drain the lentils. Add the lentils to a medium-sized saucepan with the water, turmeric, 1 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp ghee. Cook the lentils on medium and occasionally stir.

While the lentils are cooking, prepare the other ingredients.

Heat a frying pan and once hot, add the remaining ghee. Add nigella seeds and when sizzling add the ginger and cook for a minute. Add the spring onions and cook for another minute. Add the butternut squash along with fennel seeds, chilli flakes, crushed pepper and the remaining salt. Cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato puree and coriander, mix well with the ingredients in the pan and cook for 2 minutes and leave it to rest.

Once the lentils are nearly cooked, add the cooked squash mixture to the dal. Cook for a further 15 minutes, then serve.
Romy Gill is the chef and owner of Romy’s Kitchen, Thornbury, Bristol