Alison Hammond's special Saturday soup
Alison’s back in the kitchen revealing a secret family recipe - she’s making a warming Caribbean soup her mum used to make for her every week - known as Saturday soup.
You can choose the main ingredient to suit your mood, so Alison’s serving it with her favourite, beef, which tastes just as good on any day of the week!
Saturday soup
Serves: 4 - 6
Ingredients
1.75 litres water
1 vegetable stock cube
750g piece beef shin, with bone
1 large onion, chopped
A big chunk of Jamaican pumpkin, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 carrots , chopped
1 sweet potato, chopped
2 potatoes
½ tbsp all purpose seasoning
50g dried chicken soup mix
Small bunch fresh thyme
1 cho cho (chayote), peeled and sliced
2 large spring onions, chopped
1 Scotch bonnet pepper - leave this whole!
For the dumplings
185g plain flour
Large pinch of salt
100 - 125ml cold water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan and add the beef, onion, pumpkin and garlic. Simmer for 1 ¾ hours.
2. Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, all purpose seasoning, soup mix and thyme and cook for a further 1 ¼ hours
3. Meanwhile, make the dumplings by mixing together the flour, salt and water to make a smooth dough. Cover and leave to rest for about ten minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 10 -12 even pieces and then shape into dumplings
5. Stir the chocho, spring onion and scotch bonnet pepper into the soup and season. Sit the dumplings on top and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, or until the dumplings are cooked.