Name: Berbere Onion Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Cuisine: French/African
Ingredients: 1kg brown onions (approx 6); 50g butter; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp Herbie’s Spices Berbere Spice Mix; 1 tsp Herbie’s Spices Porcini Powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp brown sugar; 1 L beef, chicken or vegetable stock; 1 half (demi) baguette, sliced; 100g grated gruyere cheese

Berbere Onion Soup

This is Herbie’s version of a French onion soup – enhanced with our fragrant North African spice blend Berbere, and given a hit of umami with porcini powder. You can vary the depth of flavour depending on the stock you use – beef at the richer end of the scale, and vegetable for a lighter soup.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hour 40 mins

Yield: 4 Serves 1x

Category: Soup

Cuisine: French/African

Scale

Ingredients

1kg brown onions (approx 6)
50g butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp Herbie’s Spices Berbere Spice Mix
1 tsp Herbie’s Spices Porcini Powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 L beef, chicken or vegetable stock
1 half (demi) baguette, sliced
100g grated gruyere cheese

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Instructions

Peel onions and slice finely while whole (a mandolin is great for this job).
Melt butter in a heavy based saucepan then add onions. Cover with greaseproof paper and lid and cook on low, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes – 1 hour until very soft; there should be very little resistance when pressing a strand between your fingers.
Add garlic, Berbere, porcini, salt and sugar and cook for a further 10 minutes with the lid removed, stirring a few times.
Pour in stock of choice and simmer for a final 10 minutes.
Heat a grill to high. To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with a slice of baguette (or two) and plenty of grated gruyere. Place bowls under the grill to melt cheese, then carefully remove to a plate to serve. Alternatively, grill cheese on baguette separately and serve on top of soup or on the side.
Top with a grind of black pepper and eat immediately.