The soups synonymous with a British summer – cucumber, watercress or a version of the French Vichyssoise – seem at odds with many of those enjoyed in countries whose weather reaches temperatures that would put ours in the shade. Those chilli- and ginger-spiked broths and main-course soups you find in India, Thailand, Malaysia whose ingredients seem designed to actually make us sweat.
The subtle flavours, mild (or nonexistent) spicing and cool temperature of our warm-weather meals in a bowl are the polar opposite of the vibrant recipes eaten elsewhere. Our most famous don't even contain onions, let alone the chilli, ginger and lemongrass of the Malaysian laksa or the clear spicy broths you might find in Japan.
When I served bowls of aubergine and courgette soup, heavily laced with a hot spice paste, on one of our few blazing summer days, its suitability was initially met with scepticism. But as we ate the only garden meal of the year so far, the penny dropped that there was indeed something right about the idea.
The basic laksa recipe, with its aromatic paste, noodles and soft vegetables, is often thick with seafood, such as prawns and crab, but this need not be the case. I often include only vegetables, mostly of the squash, tomato or courgette bunch, occasionally adding a few green leaves. Once the spice paste, stock and vegetables are reduced to fragrant mush, you can stir in a few greens, spinach for example, at the last minute.
I see the final addition of cooling herbs as an essential part of any spicy soup. Coriander leaves and any form of mint are the most obvious. Exploring the differing varieties of mint is interesting – spearmints, Moroccan mints and common or garden varieties. A trip to a herb specialist will introduce many others worth a gamble: ginger, basil, lemon and lime mints are all suitable (and if you are growing them and wonder when to use them, now is the time). I'd leave the chocolate variety for dessert.
The coconut milk inherent in many southeast Asian soups has acooling effect on the spice paste and introduces richness, but coconut-haters can make clear spice-based broths, too. Earlier in the week Imade a soup of summer greens that looked like a cucumber consommé. Softly flavoured it may have looked, but in reality it held notes of lemon grass and lime leaves and enough of a punch to bring out little beads of sweat on your forehead. Warmed by the inclusion of spring onions, ginger and a couple of spoonfuls of miso paste – a favourite ingredient for adding to clear broth – the soup packed a light, aromatic punch.
You can use yellow or brown miso paste to give body to a clear broth, but the yellow had my attention this week for its mellow, almost creamy quality. It dissolves easily and adds amushroom-like note. I keep it in the fridge for occasions such as this. (Orfor my emergency meal of powdered vegetable bouillon, miso paste and any green vegetable that's around.) What I really love about miso paste is its ability to make a soup more sustaining without adding bulk.
A thick lentil-based soup wouldn't seem right at this time of year, but aspicy bean soup of the minestrone variety would work. To a base of finely chopped onions and carrots, add smaller beans, such as flageolet, and season with chilli flakes and basil. A soup for eating at a long trestle table under the shade of a fig tree. But first find your summer's day.
Summer vegetable laksa
Make the paste as spicy as you wish by altering the amount of chillies. Two small red chillies should give quite a kick, but much will depend on the chillies. You could omit them for a mild, aromatic version. The paste will keep for a few days if covered with oil and kept, covered, in the fridge.
Serves 4
tomatoes medium-sized, three or four
red chillies 2
garlic cloves 2
lemon grass 2 stalks
coriander leaves a generous handful
vegetable stock 400ml
coconut milk 400ml
vermicelli noodles 100g, dried
courgette 1, large
finger aubergines 8
fish sauce 1 tbsp
Put the tomatoes, red chilli and peeled garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Peel and discard the outer leaves of the lemon grass, roughly chop the inner leaves and add them to the tomatoes with the coriander. Blitz to a coarse, soft paste.
Put the paste into a large saucepan and cook lightly for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Pour in the vegetable stock and the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Lower the heat so the soup cooks at agentle bubble, then slice the courgette and cut the aubergines in half lengthways, and add to the soup.
Leave the vegetables to simmer for 6 or 7 minutes until fully tender. Pour boiling water on the noodles and let them soak for a couple of minutes according to the instructions on the packet. Season the soup with the fish sauce, then drain the noodles and add them.
Miso broth with greens
The greens are up to you. I used long thin ung choi, but bok choi, spinach, shredded spring cabbage or anything that takes your fancy, and cooks quickly, will work.
Serves 4
water 1 litre
yellow miso paste 4 tbsp
green chilli 1, hot
spring onions 2
mint a handful
lemon grass 3 stalks
lime leaves 6
ginger 1 tbsp or to taste
greens, such as bok choi 4 handfuls
Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan, stir in the miso paste until it has dissolved, then turn down to a simmer. Put the chilli, spring onions, mint and the inner leaves of the lemon grass into a food processor with the ginger and blitz to a smooth paste. Stir the spice paste into the simmering broth, scrunch the lime leaves and add them, and cook for a few minutes. Blanch the greens, then add to the soup and serve.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place
