Vegetarian Light Soup

This vegetarian light soup is a meat-free alternative to the quintessential fufu soup in Ghana with a similar rendition (Sauce Claire) found in Ivory Coast. This recipe is spicy, light, delicious and perfect for the cold winter season or summer months.

Since it is quite a quintessential Ghanaian dish, I have been on the quest to find a vegan alternative that tastes delicious and delivers just like the traditional version. However, with a soup built on the need for meat, it has been a tricky quest. This recipe came together after looking at the Ivorian rendition of this dish (Sauce Claire). Although quite similar, there are certain variations that were better suited for a meat-free/ vegetarian alternative. Now with some practice and a few adjustments, this recipe hits all the important notes while allowing West African ingredients to shine.

What is Light Soup/ Sauce Claire

Light soup in Ghana is a light and spicy tomato soup made from a variety of animal proteins. It is called light soup because it doesn’t include rich ingredients like peanut/groundnuts or palm fruit. The broth from steaming the animal protein is what is used as the base of the dish, with blended tomatoes, onions, pepper, and ginger strained into the dish. It is seasoned based on personal preference. The soup is boiled for a while till oil (from the animal fats) starts to settle at the top of the soup. The separation of oil to the top is what made it difficult to replicate meat-free.

Simultaneously, I was looking into Ivorian soups for other content and came across various methods for their sauce claire. Sauce claire is similar to light soup as it is a spicy tomato-based soup used to accompany a swallow. Like the Ghanaian version, it uses broth from steaming animal protein with blended tomatoes, onions, (sometimes) garden eggs, (sometimes) palm oil, (sometimes) tomato paste, akpi (click here for details) and seasoning. Ivorian soups, unlike Ghanaian soups, do not strain the blended mixture leaving a thicker soup base. In addition, adding oil and the akpi adds more fat content.

This process seemed like a viable approach to making a vegetarian-friendly light soup. Adding oil adds additional fat to the soup while also keeping it light. I would love to do a truly Ivorian rendition in the near future.

What Ingredients you will need to make Vegetarian Light soup

• Mushrooms: Mushrooms serve as a meat substitute for the soup broth. Using a variety of mushrooms, both dry and fresh, add different textures and a depth of flavour.
• Soup base: Like many Ghanaian soups, our soup will include tomatoes, onions, hot pepper, and ginger. A non-traditional addition is tomato paste
• Seasoning: Kept this really simple with miso, vegetable bouillon paste and dawa dawa/iru
• Palm Oil: adding palm oil will add more fat to the soup and more depth of flavour.
• Water: I am using water because my vegetable bouillon comes in a paste.

How to make Vegetarian Light Soup

1. Steam the mushrooms in water.
2. Boil the soup base till the skins peel off the tomatoes
3. Blend the soup base then pour it back into the soup
4. Season soup
5. Add more textural elements like fresh mushrooms and tofu
6. Boil till ready.

FAQ + Substitutions

• Can I substitute the palm oil for another oil? You can substitute with a neutral oil but palm oil adds a really nice rich flavour
• Can I make this tofu free? Yes, you can. You can either omit the tofu completely or use another plant-based protein like tempeh. I will suggest against using things like beyond-meat crumbles or impossible burgers as they will just dissolve into the soup.
• I am not a fan of mushrooms, do you have an alternative? As of now, I really do not since the base of the soup is made from mushrooms.
• Can I substitute the dawa dawa? You are welcome to use any seasoning of choice. I find that dawa dawa has quite a unique smell that has almost a meat undertone to it.

What Can I serve with this dish?

• Rice! This is my go-to for light soup but it works with all types of fufu.

Check out more of my favourite vegan-friendly Ghanaian soups

• Palm nut soup
• Groundnut Soup
• Okra Stew
• Green Peanut Soup

If you like this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below

Print Recipe

Vegetarian Light Soup

Vegetarian-friendly alternative to the classic Ghanaian tomato-based spicy soup.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time38 minutes mins

Total Time46 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Ghanaian

Keyword: african ingredients, ghanaian recipes, ghanaian soup, soup

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried mushrooms I used shiitake and wood ear
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers you can deseed these or omit entirely for less spice
• 1 thumb size ginger
• 2 tbsp of red palm oil
• 1.5 tbsp of miso
• 2 tbsp of better than bouillon paste
• 1/2 tsp of powder dawa dawa
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1/2 packet of smoked tofu
• 1.5 litres water

Instructions

• Start by boiling the mushrroms in 1 litre of water at medium heat
• When the pot comes to a boil, add in your fresh tomatoes, onion, ginger and scotch bonnet pepper
• Let this boil at medium heat till the skins start to peel off the tomatoes
• Blend the tomatoes, ginger, onion and pepper with 1/2 a litre of water till smooth
• Pour the blended mixture into the pot and bring to a boil
• Once the soup is boiling, add in your tomato paste, miso, dawa dawa, better than bouillon paste and palm oil
• Let the soup boil for 35 minutes at medium low till the soup thickens, there is no foam and the palm oil has fully settled to the top
• Serve with rice or swallow of choice.