Chilled vegan cucumber soup

Easy and delicious, this is the vegan counterpart to my cucumber soup post from a few days ago. With this soup, I was trying for a more pickle-y flavor, a summer version of Polish pickle soup.

Hence, the fresh dill and garlic. Personally, I like the raw garlic— I think it gives the soup a gentle heat, and evokes pickles. (This is also why I used dill.) However, if you prefer a cooler flavor, mint works wonderfully with cucumber.

When thinking to convert this recipe, I looked to other recipes for inspiration— and some used cashews, others used tofu. However, I decided to go with a vegan yogurt I’ve cooked with before: So Delicious’s almond yogurt. I like the earthy, nutty flavor, and the texture is very similar to dairy yogurt. However, almond yogurt is a little bit sweet, so I added some lemon juice to keep this soup crisp and refreshing.

A note: I used vegetable stock in this soup, to give it a little more flavor. Also, as almond yogurt is a little thick, the stock helps give the soup the right consistency.

Ingredients

 

2 cucumbers, peeled and seeded

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1/2 cup fresh dill

1 small clove garlic, chopped

1 cup vegetable broth or stock, chilled

1 cup almond yogurt (or other non-dairy, unsweetened yogurt)

salt and pepper to taste

juice from half a lemon

1. Wash the herbs and cucumbers, and pat or spin dry.
2. Peel the cukes, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
3. Pull the leaves off the herbs and chop the garlic very fine.
4. Add the chopped cucumbers, onion, herbs, garlic, veggie stock and almond yogurt to a blender. Blend until creamy and smooth.
5. Remember to taste it, to see if you need to add salt and pepper.
6. Pour into a bowl and let chill for at least four hours before eating.

 

When making this recipe, you can make more or less soup by remembering this ratio: 1 cucumber to a half cup of yogurt.