Bright, citrusy, and perfect for fending off a cold, this Lemon Coriander Soup tastes like a bowlful of sunshine. Made with aromatics, carrots, mushrooms, lemon, coriander (cilantro) and seasonings, this tangy and flavorful soup isn't just nutritious and delicious but comes together easily making it the ideal recipe for a cold weeknight.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Appetizers, Soup
  • Cuisine: World

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (or any neutral flavoured oil)
  • 1 teaspoon ginger (- finely chopped, or 1-inch ginger)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic (- finely chopped, or 3 to 4 medium-sized garlic cloves)
  • ¼ cup spring onion whites (- chopped (scallion whites) or 2 small spring onions or ¼ cup finely chopped onions or shallots)
  • ¼ to ⅓ cup carrots (- finely chopped, or 1 small to medium carrot)
  • 1 to 1.25 cups white button mushrooms (- chopped, or 4 to 5 white button mushrooms)
  • ½ teaspoon green chilli (- chopped)
  • 1 lemongrass stalk (- chopped in 2 to 3 inches pieces, optional)
  • crushed black pepper (or ground black pepper powder as required)
  • salt (as required)
  • 4 cups water (or homemade vegetable stock or or packaged sodium-free vegetable stock)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or add as per taste)
  • ⅓ cup coriander leaves (- chopped (cilantro))
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons spring onion greens (- chopped (scallion greens) or chives, optional)
  • 1 tablespoon coriander leaves
  • 4 lemon slices (- optional)
  • 1 tablespoon spring onion greens (- chopped (scallion greens) or chives - optional)

Method

Preparation

  1. Rinse and then chop spring onions and mushrooms.
  2. Peel, rinse and finely chop the carrots.
  3. Rinse, peel and finely chop ginger and garlic.
  4. Rinse and finely chop green chillies and coriander leaves.

Cooking Veggies

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil or any neutral flavored oil in a pan or pot.
  2. Keep heat to a low or medium-low. When the oil becomes hot, add 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger, 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic and ½ teaspoon chopped green chilli.
  3. Sauté ginger, garlic, green chilli for a few seconds on medium-low heat till the raw aroma of ginger and garlic goes away. Do not brown them.
  4. Next add ¼ cup chopped spring onion whites.
  5. Stir and sauté spring onions for a minute on a medium-low to medium heat.
  6. Add the chopped carrots and chopped button mushrooms. You can add 1.5 to 1.75 cups of chopped mix vegetables like cabbage, sweet corn, baby corn, broccoli, carrots, snap peas, green peas and cauliflower. You can also use a mix of various edible mushrooms.
  7. Mix very well.
  8. Stir fry on a medium-low to medium heat for about 3 minutes. If not using mushrooms then stir fry for less time. Mushrooms leave water and hence the vegetable mixture does not stick to the pan while stir frying.
  9. Add 4 cups water. You can even use homemade vegetable stock or a sodium-free vegetable stock instead of water.
  10. Add the chopped lemongrass stalk. You could even opt to use a lightly crushed and chopped lemon grass bulb.
  11. Add freshly crushed black pepper and salt as per taste.

Making lemon coriander soup

  1. Cover and pan and simmer on medium-low to medium heat until the carrots and mushroom are softened and tender.
  2. When the carrots and mushrooms are cooked well, add ⅓ cup coriander leaves and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
  3. Add lemon juice as per taste. 2 tablespoons of lemon juice gives a good tangy taste to the soup. If you want a less tangy or sour taste, then add ½ to 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
  4. Stir and turn off the heat.
  5. Lastly, add chopped spring onion greens (scallions) and mix.
  6. Before serving remember to remove the chopped lemongrass stalks with a spoon.
  7. Serve Lemon Coriander soup hot or warm in soup bowls or soup mugs. While serving you can garnish with some more spring onion greens and lemon slices. Some crushed black pepper can also be sprinkled on top of the soup.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.