Heidi Swanson's Sriracha Tomato Soup

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Meet Our Chef: Heidi Swanson

Learn about her mission: Heidi Swanson has been writing and cooking for more than 20 years. She is the founder of 101 Cookbooks, and the author of several best-selling books all aimed to help people easily cook healthy, local, quality meals for themselves and those they love.

Get her recipe: Sriracha Tomato Soup

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Sriracha-Tomato Soup

Warming and simple to make, this is a pantry soup if ever there was one. The sriracha brings some vivaciousness to the whole affair. Look for organic, all-natural sriracha, or a sriracha that's free of preservatives and unrecognizable ingredients…you want one that contains simply chiles, vinegar, garlic, and so on. Toasted pepitas tend to be my seed of choice for topping, but sliced almonds come in a close second.

SERVES 6

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
3 tablespoons sriracha
1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup full-fat coconut milk Coconut cream reserved from the top of the can, to serve
Toasted nuts or seeds, brown rice, or lemon wedges, to serve (optional)

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and cook for 5 minutes, until the onions soften but don't brown. Stir in the sriracha, tomatoes, and water. Bring the soup toa boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the flavors meld.Stir in the coconut milk and bring the soup back to a simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and transfer the soup to a high-speed blender (in batches, if necessary). Alternately, use ahand blender directly in the pot. Blend the soup until smooth.Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a swirl of coconut cream and a sprinkling of nuts or seeds or over a scoop of brown rice. Either way, you can't go wrong with a big squeeze of lemon juice.

Originally published in Super Natural Simply by Heidi Swanson. Republished with permission of the publisher.