This is a creamy, nut-free, vegan raw soup that is absolutely perfect for a hot summer day. The fact that the watercress and the cucumbers came from my own garden makes the soup even more satisfying to me.
Some recipes call for nuts or nut milk if you want to make your raw soup creamy. In many of my recipes I prefer to use zucchini. The effect is the same with a much lighter texture. Zucchini is also a perfect option for those with tree nut allergies. Adding a little cold pressed oil at the end helps you not only to achieve a nice velvety texture, but also to absorb the fat soluble vitamin K from the watercress.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh watercress, packed
- 3 cups roughly chopped cucumber, seeds removed
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped zucchini, seeds removed
- 1 1/4 cup cold purified water
- freshly pressed juice of 1/2 lemon, add more if needed
- 1 Tbsp moringa powder (optional)
- 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- Celtic sea salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
- 2 Tbsp cold pressed oil (I used 1 Tbsp virgin olive oil and 1 Tbsp cold pressed moringa oil)
for the garnish
- watercress leaves
- cucumber slices, wedges or strips
Method:
- In a blender whiz watercress, cucumbers, zucchini and water into a creamy soup.
- Add lemon juice, moringa powder (if using), nutmeg, salt and white pepper, and blend for a few seconds. Adjust the taste as needed.
- Add the oil of your choice and blend again for a second or two.
- Pour the soup into chilled bowls. Garnish with cucumber and watercress, and serve right away. Enjoy in good company!
Tip: I wanted to serve this cooling soup right away but did not want to use any ice cubes. Instead, I used well chilled cucumbers, chilled water and chilled soup bowls to obtain the cooling effect on a very hot summer day. Also, I chopped up all ingredients to shorten the processing time. It took less than one minute to make this soup in my Vitamix.
If you like chilled summer soups, you will love this one. It is a basic recipe that is actually quite versatile. Replace watercress with baby spinach, sorrel, young nettle leaves or any other herb to create your own spectacular green summer soup.
In radiant health, passionately raw - Dominique
Dominique Allmon©2024