Slow Cooker Curried Tomato Soup
Fall doesn’t officially start until the end of the month, but our garden is already making the transition. The cucumbers stopped producing after a cold snap last week, and the tomatoes are soon going to be good only for green tomato chutney. Last week I cleared some beds and planted garlic, kale, and shallots to overwinter, and the lawn is starting to develop a checkerboard of fallen leaves. This soup is the perfect blend of late summer/early fall: loaded with ripe, garden tomatoes, but warming, easy, and full of flavor. This is a really lazy soup because during the semester the weekends are the only time I can really cook with leisure. I had about four pounds of beautiful heirloom tomatoes from our garden–Valencias and Pineapple varieties.
To keep this lazy I used dehydrated, chopped onion, as I don’t like fresh onions in soup unless they are first cooked down in some olive oil. If you want to use fresh onion just chop up about a cup, sweat it in some olive oil, and then toss it in the pot instead of the dried onion. I also left the skins on the tomatoes and just squeezed out around half of the seeds. I wanted easy, and since I blended the soup at the end the texture was great. If you want a silky-smooth soup you can remove all of the seeds and peels before cooking. I know I have said this numerous times, but an immersion blender is your friend. It’s a seriously easy way to turn soups and sauces into something rich and lush in texture–plus they are a snap to clean up.
Really simple, with lots of flavor. I will be sad to see the tomatoes go.
Slow Cooker Curried Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- About 4 pounds of vine-ripened garden tomatoes, cored and chopped (peeled and seeded, if desired)
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups full-fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced, dehydrated onion
Instructions
- Toss all of the ingredients in your slow cooker and set it on high. Cook for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, then carefully blend the hot soup to the texture you prefer. Taste and adjust the salt, if needed. If you prefer to cook this on low, it will take 5-6 hours. Serve the soup hot, garnished with chopped, fresh cilantro, if you like.
