Vegan sopa de caracol
Sopa de caracol is a classic Honduran soup made from coconut milk, cassava, and banana or plantain. In this vegan version, the conch is replaced by king oyster mushrooms marinated in seaweed broth.
Servings 3 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ onion
- ½ green chili optional
- ½ green bell pepper
- 250 g cassava uncooked cassava is poisonous
- 1 green banana or green plantain
- 5 sprigs cilantro
- 300 mL coconut milk
- 300 mL water
- 2 tsp vegetable stock powder or cube
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil e.g. canola
- 1 tsp annatto seeds or paste optional, see note
- 1 tsp cumin, ground
- salt & pepper, to taste
Conch substitute
- 200 g king oyster mushrooms 2 large mushrooms
- 1 piece kombu or nori, ~5 x 10 cm seaweed
- salt
- 500 mL water enough to cover the mushrooms
For serving
- rice, fried plantain, and/or tortillas
Instructions
Vegan conch substitute
- Turn on the oven and set to 200℃.
- For the vegan conch, remove the mushroom caps from the stems. Wrap steams whole in aluminum foil.
- Bake the aluminum foil-wrapped mushroom stems for 30-60 minutes at 200℃. Cooking time depends on the size of the mushrooms. They should be cooked through and start to brown a little.
- Bring water to a boil and add seaweed and salt. Let cool.
- When the mushrooms are done, let them cool. Cut the stems in a circular motion parallel to the stem. The goal is to create a single, large sheet from the stem.
Sopa de caracol
- If using annatto seeds to colour the soup, prepare some annatto seed oil by heating 2 tbsp canola and the seeds in a pot. When the oil is stained red, discard the seeds. To save dishes, you can do this in the same pot you will cook the soup in.
- Heat the canola (stained or not) in a pot. Add the chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper, and optional chili. Sweat on medium heat until the vegetables are cooked through and the onion is translucent.
- Stir in cilantro and cumin.
- Add water, coconut milk, salt, and vegetable stock powder/cube.
- Peel and chop the cassava. The peel can be removed using a knife to trace the inside of the thick peel.
- Peel and slice the banana.
- Add cassava and banana to the pot.
- Bring to a simmer and let the soup simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the cassava is cooked through.
- When the cassava is done, the banana should also be done. Add the vegan conch substitute and let it heat through. For extra seafood flavour, you can add some of the seaweed marinade.
- Serve the vegan sopa de caracol with rice, fired plantain or tortillas.
Notes
Annatto seeds are used to add some red colour to the soup. You can replace the annatto seeds with fresh tomatoes or a bit of tomato puree. This will change the flavour of the soup but some cooks do include tomatoes in their sopa de caracol.