This is one of my all time favorite soups! Believe it or not, it was a mistake recipe when I attempted making the recipe a friend had given my from her Ecuadorian mother-in-law.
It was an awesome mistake and I’ve made it over and over again since then. I’ve tweaked it a bit since, and probably because I keep forgetting exactly what I used in the ingredients but that’s why I’m writing this post and documenting the recipe this time! There’s one major issue I have with this soups and that’s that there is never enough! It’s too good I want an endless supply lol.
The biggest mistake I used with the initial recipe was star anise. I thought her recipe called for Anise seeds, and looking all over I only found star anise so I grabbed it. I was told the oil would turn red, and it wasn’t and then realized it was supposed to be annatto seeds which are VERY hard to find in stores and had to be purchased online in a big bottle.
That was an amazing mistake though because although I didn’t get the red tinted and flavor I was wanting, the anise added amazing flavor to it. Anise is fennel family, and super healthy too.
I tried making it again and bought actual anise which I boiled and emulsified and well… it’s just amazing and I’m going to show you the ingredients and steps below…
Add some vegetable oil to a large stock pot, and add some seeds. Simmer on low or they’ll burn and POP right out of the pot (watch your eyes!) Those sucker’s hurt when they hit you soaked in hot oil.
Simmer just until they heat up and the oil turns bright reddish orange then fish out all of the seeds from the oil and discard because they aren’t supposed to be consumed they’re just for flavor.
Chop up a quarter of the anise or fennel body (the white part), some scallions, and some green onion whites.
Add to the boiling oil and simmer until they start to get alittle tender. Then add in some vegetable stock about halfway up the pot and bring to a boil.
Then peel and chop up about 5 small red potatoes into small pieces that we will be adding to the pot to boil along with the anise and other root veggies we added.
Bring to a boil for 30 minutes. You need the potatoes and veggies to be tender enough to use an emulsion hand blender and blend into a soup consistency.
The emulsion hand blender I have I got at my local grocery store and it was maybe $30 at most but so worth it!
Blend all of the ingredients in the pot until smooth broth. The more potatoes you add initially the thicker it’ll be but I like it too be thin for this soup. This mends all of you the boiled ingredients together into a nice flavorful broth. At this point I usually add a bit of salt and pepper and also 2 scoops of sour cream before blending.
Then add additional cut up cubed peeled potatoes that will stay whole pieces in the soup.
Simmer the potatoes in the broth for another 20-25 minutes until potatoes are tender. I also add some of the leaves from the anise as well for flavor and looks.
When done, put a large hunk of 5 blend Italian shredded cheese or mozzerella in a bowl and pour soup over it.
This is the #1 must have ingredient to make this soup one of the most addicting soups I’ve ever had.
*tip, you can omit the Annatto seeds all together, or add less for less of an orange color. Also you can add some milk to the soup to adjust flavor or texture as needed.
Enjoy!
If you made it, let me know what you think!
