Vegan Corn Soup

On my walk home from the Amtrak station on Tuesday, the Copley Square farmers market was in full swing so I made a little pit stop. One of the booths was selling 6 ears of corn for $1.50. Knowing this might be the last of the summer corn, I just couldn’t resist. Plus, that’s a really good deal. 🙂

When I got home, I tucked the corn in the fridge and thought I would use it in some salads or maybe we’d have corn on the cob sometime this week. But then I started thinking about soup.

When I lived in San Francisco, boy that sounds weird to type, I ate soup all the time. Partially because it was 58 and foggy 75% of the time but also because I worked downtown near about 5 different San Francisco Soup Companies. Like most people, my lunch hour wasn’t really an hour but more of a hurried run to the nearest restaurant to grab something quick to eat in front of my computer. Soup Co.’s southwestern corn chowder was an old standby.

It’s not exactly cool in Boston yet so I wasn’t really craving a heavy corn and potato based soup like the ones I’m so used to eating. Then I remembered reading this post about corn broth and decided to play around with building flavors in the stock and letting the corn be the star.

6 ears of summer corn

8 cups water

1 red onion

1 bell pepper, I used a combination of yellow and red

1 tablespoon Earth Balance or butter

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

First husk the corn.

Then remove kernels from cob. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to place a small bowl upside down in a larger bowl. Put the corn on the smaller bowl as a stand of sorts. Then run your knife down the cobs. The kernels will fall into the larger bowl instead of all over the counter and floor.

Once all kernels are removed, place the corn cobs and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to medium high and cook for 40 mins.

Strain broth through a fine sieve. 8 cups of water made a little over 4 cups of broth.

In a pan, saute onions and peppers in Earth Balance and oil until lightly brown. I used both Earth Balance and oil because I wanted a really rich flavor but you can use one or the other if you prefer.

Add garlic, red pepper flakes and 3/4 of the corn kernels, saute for 1 minute. Reserve the rest of the kernels to use at the end.

Add corn broth to the vegetables and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 30 minutes.

Take pot off stove and using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.

Add remaining corn kernels and simmer for 5 additional minutes.

I ate mine with hot sauce and cilantro. Green onions would also be a tasty addition.

Enjoy!