Type: Edible/Cosmetic
Difficulty: Hard
Kid-friendly? No (requires refined tastebuds)
Soup may not be the most common thing to give as a present, but this one is a special recipe from the mountains of Albajeria, and a traditional gift given between monks during the Festival of Light.
It symbolises the bond between man and beast, but the most exciting part for us is that you can use it as tasty snack OR use it as a facial cream…and it lasts for months out of the fridge without going bad. The monks used to mix things up with personalised ingredients, but we’ll be taking you through the modern, standard recipe used and enjoyed by many families.
You’ll need:
- 500g of slow-roasted mountain grass
- 1kg of ethically-sourced bison horn
- Several handfuls of raisins
- Eight pints of goat’s milk
- Four pots of Greek feta
- 600g of carob buttons
- 1kg of pre-cooked brown rice
- 7 tbsp of freshly-gathered morning dew
- A 200g jar of onion zest
- Four cups of Golden Monkey Tea, brewed for six hours
Making:
- In a large pot, combine the pre-roasted mountain grass with half of the goat’s milk and the carob buttons. Simmer on a low heat until the buttons are melted.
- While this is happening, chop up the bison horn with an angle grinder then use a pestle and mortar to crush it into powder. Mix with two pots of feta to create a cheese paste.
- Mix the raisins into the cheese paste and gently stir into the pot, slowly adding the rest of the goat’s milk as the mixture combines.
- Marinate the brown rice with the onion zest and morning dew for twenty minutes, then place into a large container and pour the contents of the pot over the rice, stirring gently.
- Add the rest of the feta, which should create a thicker mixture as you stir. Continue adding feta until it reaches the desired thickness.
- Season with the Golden Monkey Tea until the soup has a tangy sweetness, adding more feta if you feel it’s becoming too runny.
- Leave to marinate overnight in a place where the soup will catch the naked rays of sunrise, waking from your sleep to gently stir every ninety minutes. In the morning, singe the top with a blowtorch to create a crispy, crusty, crunchy outer shell.
- Divide the soup into two containers: one to be kept in the shower (for getting rid of the bags under your eyes) and another for the kitchen, so you have a meal all ready to go.
Just like the ancient monks used to make!