I made the Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea soup for dinner this evening. I intended to make the recommended cranberry chutney to go on top, but I forgot my grocery list at work and didn't get canned cranberry sauce so I had to wing it. I'm glad I did make a chutney b/c I think the soup would have been a bit bland without it. I doubled the soup recipe so that we would have plenty for lunches this week. I used 4 cups of veggie stock and 2 cups of water, which may have contributed to the blandness, but I think it really just needed more curry powder. Dan and I both thought the soup would be better if it was a bit thicker, too. If I make it again I think I'll add even more chickpeas to give it more body after pureeing. I think maybe stirring in some coconut milk after pureeing would be a nice addition as well. However, if I'm in the mood for cauliflower curry, I'll likely make the roasted sweet potato and cauliflower curry recipe from this book instead. It is really good and a staple in our house.
The chutney I made turned out very nicely and really helped round out the soup. To make the chutney I followed the outline of the recipe in the cookbook - starting with the sauteed onions with salt and pepper, then I added the grated ginger, a bit of cider vinegar, some raspberry vinegar, some peach jam a friend had made, about 1 cup of dried cranberries reconstituted with a bit of boiling water, and the zest of one lemon. I also added some extra spices - a bit of cardamon and some mustard seeds - along with the recommended cayenne. I let it simmer for about half an hour until it thickened a bit. The result was a nice mix of sweet, tart and spicy. It really did make the soup.