Wash theceleriac thoroughly, using a sharp knife carefully remove the hard-outer skinand chop into cubes
Pre-heatoven to 190 °C
Roughly chop the red onion and red chilli
Line abaking tray with foil and place the celeriac chunks, Scatter the thyme androsemary and drizzle some olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Roast in thepre-hea ted oven for around 40 minutes
In the last 20 minutes ofthe roasting process, add the chopped red onion, garlic and chilli. If you donot have an oven, simply roast the chopped red onion and garlic in a heavybottomed pan over a medium flame with some olive oil, add the herbs and the cubedceleriac, sauté,add minimal water and cook with a lid on, until the celeriacis soft.
While the celeriac cooksin the oven, wash and pat dry the red pepper. Using tongs place on an openflame, turning frequently to char the outside skin. This will impart a deepsmoky flavour to the sweet red pepper. (I love doing this over charcoal on aBBQ during summer!)
Let the red pepper cool, then use the back of a spoon to gently peel off the charred skin
Once theceleriac is cooked, set aside and allow to cool enough to add in the blender
Blend the roasted celeriac,red onion, garlic and the smoked red pepper. Remove the rosemary and thymebefore adding into the blender. Add just enough water to form a thick grainy mixture.I don’t like to blend too fine, this way the soup has a nice thick texture
Heat the remaining Oliveoil In a heavy bottomed pot, sautee the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Thensputter some cumin and then pour the vegetable mixture from the blender. Addthe red chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix well. Simmer on a low flamefor a few minutes with lid on
Seasonwith salt, freshly cracked black pepper
Garnish withthe mixed seeds and one sage leaf per bowl. I like to sautee the sage leaf in adrop of olive oil before garnishing – it renders the sage leaf crisp and allits fabulous flavours release into the little oil
Serve hotwith crusty bread slathered with lashings of butter or vegan butter