South African Sorrel Soup is a traditional South African recipe for a classic vegetarian soup of local sorrel leaves cooked in vegetable stock that's finished with cream. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic South African version of: South African Sorrel Soup.
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Whereas sorrel in West Africa means the leaves of the hibiscus plant (as it does in the Caribbean), in South Africa there is a plant that's related to European sorrel. This is Oxalis pes-caprae which grows wild on the Cape (and is known as Cape sorrel). It grows wild as a weed, has lemon-yellow flowers and tastes of lemon. It was valued by sailors rounding the cape as it contains vitamin C and helps counteract the effects of scurvy.
The leaves are cooked in soups just like European sorrel and you can make this soup with European sorrel instead. I always have red sorrel in the garden as it provides a wonderful springtime treat and I used these leaves mixed with a little wild wood sorrel to prepare this recipe. However, I present it here in the South African original.
Ingredients:
1l freshly-made vegetable stock
1 generous handful of sorrel leaves, washed and stripped of their stems
150ml double cream
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Rinse the sorrel leaves well (if grown in sandy soil they can be very gritty). Place the leaves in a blender with 500ml of the stock and process to a purée.
Turn the leaf purée into a saucepan, add the remaining stock and bring to a boil. Boil the mixture for 1 minute then take off the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Stir in the cream then put back on the heat and allow to heat through (make certain it does not boil).
Season to taste with salt and freshly-ground black pepper, then serve.
