I’m a wee bit late to the Instant Pot craze. I impulsively bought the 6-quart version on Cyber Monday TWO years ago and it’s been sitting in my garage this whole time. I wasn’t convinced that I needed another appliance in my tiny kitchen, especially since we don’t cook/eat a lot of meat and that’s where the IP seems to really shine. Well, it turns out I did need it and don’t know how I lived without it. Unsoaked beans in 30 mins, yes! One pot set-it-and-forget-it meals, yesss! I actually donated my slow cooker last week, because I couldn’t think of a single thing that the slow cooker could do that the IP couldn’t. So there’s that… the IP is even saving me a little space.

Maybe it’s LA’s “fall” weather, or maybe it’s my new obsession with the Instant Pot, but I’ve been on a soup kick ever since I made No. 2 Pencil’s chicken noodle soup. I made this warming, healing turmeric cauliflower soup the other night and shared it on my Instagram stories and a lot of you were interested, so I’m sharing it here. I’m taking a page from Serious Eats on the fish sauce umami addition at the end, but feel free to leave that out to make it completely vegan.

Turmeric Cauliflower Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger root, minced

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes

2 tsp dried turmeric

8 cups filtered water

1 cup cashew cream (recipe below)

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp fish sauce

salt and pepper

Directions

For the cashew cream: Soak 1 cup of cashews in filtered water overnight. Drain cashews, discarding the soaking water. Blend cashews and 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt.

For the soup: Use the saute function on the Instant Pot. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until soft. Be very careful to not let it burn. Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes, turmeric and salt and pepper. Saute 2-3 minutes so that some of the cauliflower starts to get a little color. Add water. Close the Instant Pot lid and cook on high pressure for 10 mins. After 10 minutes, quick release and add the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth with an immersion or traditional blender, adding more liquid if needed for desired consistency. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serves 6