Before we start this one I should point out that my granny would have a fit if she found out I called this soup Scotch Broth. It's not. Confused? Let me take a minute to explain.
Around New Year 1999, my colleague Leila mentioned that she was having difficulty finding someone to present a Scots recipe on Kazak television as part of a programme featuring traditional New Year dishes from all over the world. 'Wait a minute,' I thought 'I'm Scots, I can cook and I've always wanted to appear on a cookery programme.' Ten seconds later, and long before I had considered the implications of such a rash move, I had volunteered for the job. The implications were, of course, that one must be familiar with a traditional Scots New Year dish and, furthermore, know how to prepare it.
When I realised this I spent a long time thinking back to the times when, as children, my brother and I were allowed to stay up long past midnight to 'see in the new year' with the rest of our extended family. I was looking for a recurring picture - the traditional, hearty, solid, simple but tasty and nutritious dish which, year after year, kept us all going well into the wee hours on Hogmanay. No easy task. The trouble is, you see, we Scots take our New Year celebrations very seriously indeed - no Hogmanay is complete without singing, dancing, telling jokes, reminiscing, visiting everyone in the neighbourhood and a lot of boozing - but food (considered from any point of view other than quantity) comes pretty low on the list of priorities. The only memories I could dredge up were of plates of crisps, pickled onions, salmon sandwiches and 'sweeties for the weans'. Not exactly traditional fare.
Then I remembered my granny's soup. She used to cook an enormous pot full and insist that all the revellers who stopped by had a bowl before continuing on their rounds. This usually went on for about three days.
A little modification was necessary, however, to make the recipe accessible to the Kazak cook - out went the turnips, leeks and barley, in went the porridge oats, spring onions and green radishes - and further modification to make it acceptable to the vegetarian cook - out with the flank mutton, in with the margarine and vegetable stock cubes. I did a trial run at home and all agreed it was very good soup. This recipe is for about 6 litres but you can halve the quantities if you want to make less. The green radishes will of course be almost impossible to find in the UK.
Ingredients:
500g potatoes
300g carrots
250g green radishes or turnips
250g onions
1 mug of red or brown lentils
1 mug of porridge oats
1 bunch of spring onions
2 or 3 vegetable stock cubes
2or 3 bay leaves
A few sprigs of parsley (chopped)
Vegetable oil
150g margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Black pepper
Peel and dice the potatoes, carrots and radishes (potatoes in 2cm cubes, the others 1cm) and put to one side. Chop the onions and spring onions and fry them together in some vegetable oil until the onions are transparent. Add the margarine and, when it has melted, add the oats and stir to prevent burning. After 3 or 4 minutes add two litres of water and all the other ingredients except the salt and stock cubes. Top up with water, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 40 minutes. Add the salt and stock cubes ten minutes before the end.