Quick answer: In a blended velouté, turmeric, ginger and curry powder are sautéed with the onion right from the start, since everything ends up blended. In a clear broth, a powdered spice clouds the liquid: it is best to infuse whole fresh ginger in it, removed before serving.
A soup can be a clear broth, a blended velouté, or something in between, and each of these types takes to spices differently. Madagascar turmeric, ginger and curry are each used in a slightly different way depending on whether a smooth velouté or a clear broth is being prepared. For the moment to add spices in a simmered dish in general, our page on spices and simmered dishes gives broader guidance; this one focuses on soups.
In a blended velouté, powdered spices right from the start
In a vegetable velouté, squash, carrot, sweet potato or cauliflower, powdered spices such as turmeric or curry mix well with the rest since everything ends up blended together. The simplest gesture is to sauté them with the onion, right at the start of preparation, before adding the stock and the vegetables to be cooked. Turmeric colours the velouté slightly and spreads evenly once the blender has passed through it; curry, which is a blend of several spices, behaves the same way and does not need to be added a second time at the end of cooking.
In a clear broth, whole spices that are removed
A clear broth, on the other hand, loses its clarity if a powdered spice is poured into it: the particles stay suspended and cloud it. To flavour a broth without clouding it, fresh ginger, cut into slices or sticks, infuses directly in the hot liquid during cooking, then is removed before serving. Powdered ginger, on the other hand, dissolves in the liquid and suits a soup that is already thick, or a velouté, better than a broth that is meant to stay clear.
Turmeric and curry, a base that can be combined
Nothing stops you from using turmeric and curry in the same soup: curry already brings a little turmeric in its blend, but an extra pinch of turmeric alone deepens the colour without adding the other spices in the curry. For a carrot or pumpkin velouté, this combination is made right at the start of cooking, with the onion, before adding the stock and the vegetables. Ginger, fresh or powdered depending on the clarity wanted for the velouté, can be added at that same moment if powdered, or at the end of cooking if a fresher, sharper version is preferred, removed whole before blending.
Mulligatawny, a thick curry soup
Mulligatawny is a soup born from the meeting of Tamil cooking and the table of British colonists in India, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia: its name comes from the Tamil words for pepper and water, and its British version was thickened with flour and butter, enriched with meat and a spice blend close to curry. With our Madagascar curry, a simplified version is made by sautéing the onion and the curry, then adding a stock, lentils or rice, and letting it simmer until everything is tender.
Taste before adding more salt or pepper
As with a classic simmered dish, a soup that has cooked for a long time can seem to have lost some of its spice by the end: taste before serving, and add a very small pinch of turmeric, curry or powdered ginger if needed, rather than cooking it again for a long time to revive the flavour. Our page on spices and simmered dishes details this same principle for other long cooking times.
Where our spices come from
Our family grows turmeric and ginger in Vangaindrano, in south east Madagascar. Our curry, put together from several spices from the same region, also comes from there.
Frequently asked questions
Can powdered spices be put into a clear broth?
No: a powdered spice stays suspended and clouds a clear broth; fresh ginger, cut into slices, rather infuses whole in the hot liquid then is removed before serving.
When to add turmeric to a velouté?
Right at the start of preparation, sautéing it with the onion before adding the stock and the vegetables: it then spreads evenly once the blender has passed through it.
What is mulligatawny?
A soup born from the meeting of Tamil cooking and the table of British colonists in India, thickened with flour and butter in its British version, and that can be made in a simplified version with Madagascar curry.
What to do if a soup seems less fragrant after a long cooking time?
Taste before serving, and add a very small pinch of turmeric, curry or powdered ginger if needed, rather than cooking it again for a long time to revive the flavour.
Our products to go further: Madagascar turmeric · Madagascar ground ginger · Madagascar curry
For the moment to add spices in a longer simmered dish, see our dedicated page.
The Vanille Désiré team
