Jerusalem Artichoke Soup (Sunchoke Soup)

A creamy sunchoke or Jerusalem artichoke soup with a hearty salty and hot topping with bacon and sambal oelek, this is the perfect autumn soup!

What are sunchokes or Jerusalem artichokes?

Sunchokes! Or Jerusalem artichokes. You might be wondering what they are? I know I did the first time I heard the German word for it: Topinambur. A really twisted name, very un-German, I really could not imagine what that might be. But I was curious, as I always am when food is involved.

So I found out that the sunchokes or Jerusalem artichokes (another strange name if you ask me, coming actually from the Italian girasole articiocco and having nothing to do with Jerusalem) or sunroot is a tuber belonging to the same species like the sunflower (thank you Wikipedia).

Originally apparently from Mexico, sunchokes found their way to Europe (France) at the beginning of the 17^th century. They are still grown all around Europe today, but unfortunately not as much as to make them a widely available vegetable. It took me some years after first hearing of a sunchoke to finally be able to buy it around here. Not to mention that it is quite pricey as well.

But they seem to do well in a garden, too well actually... I don't grow vegetables myself, but I have heard stories of people planting a few sunchokes in their garden and ending up with a garden full of them, apparently they grow like a weed...

I have to say that I have only had the sunchokes in form of soup, this sunchoke soup. We had this the first time last year in November in a restaurant as a part of an 8 course menu. I loved everything we ate that evening but the soup was my absolute number one. I liked it so much that I immediately asked for the recipe.

It wasn't hard to get it as the chef is a good friend of ours and he was only too happy to recite the recipe to me. Since then I am making this Jerusalem artichoke soup each chance I get.

How to make sunchoke soup?

Sunchoke soup

• Start with cleaning your sunchokes very well, they are covered in dirt most of the times, especially if you have them directly from the garden. Peel and chop the Jerusalem artichokes into small cubes.
• Continue by cooking the sunchokes and the remaining cubed vegetables in some olive oil. Add the fennel seeds, I would definitely not leave them out, they just make this soup so much better, they give it such a wonderful flavor.
• Once the vegetables are soft, puree the soup.

Bacon topping

• The soup comes originally with a pork belly topping. I used lean bacon cubes instead of pork belly.
• Be careful when using Sambal Oelek, add a little at the beginning and more to taste. Sambal Oelek is hot and you want your bacon topping for the sunchoke soup to be hot, but you will not want to overdo it.
• I love the sunchoke soup with the topping, but when the topping is gone, I still eat the soup just as happily as before. So feel free to leave out the topping for a completely vegetarian meal.

Expert tips

Using fennel seeds in soups is a rather new discovery for me. I have done it once and was converted, nowadays I add the fennel seeds to many of my soups, especially the creamy ones. I also add fennel seeds to these amazing Spanish Meatballs in Tomato Sauce.

Recipe FAQ

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Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

A creamy sunchoke or Jerusalem artichoke soup with a hot bacon topping, this is the perfect autumn soup!

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: German

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 437kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 1 lb sunchokes/ Jerusalem artichokes 450 g
• ▢ 2 onions used separately
• ▢ 1 medium leek
• ▢ 1 piece celeriac about 150 g/ 5.5 oz
• ▢ 1 medium parsley root can be replaced with a bit more celeriac
• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• ▢ a dash of sake optional
• ▢ 5 cups good vegetable stock 1.2 liter
• ▢ juice of ½ lemon
• ▢ 1 piece of ginger about 2-3 cm/ 1 inch
• ▢ 7 oz lean bacon 200 g, See note
• ▢ 1-2 teaspoon Sambal Oelek to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pickled green peppercorns optional
• ▢ fine sea salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

• Prepare vegetables: Clean and peel the sunchokes, chop them into small cubes. Finely chop 1 onion, leek, celeriac, and parsley root.
• Saute: Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a soup pot and cook the vegetables until golden and softer. Add the fennel seeds and cook for 1 or 2 minutes more.
• Cook: Add a dash of sake and the vegetable stock and cook until the vegetables are soft.
• Blend the soup and adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time and stop when you had enough.
• For the topping start by chopping the second onion and the ginger very finely. Chop the bacon into small cubes.
• Cook bacon: Heat the third olive oil tablespoon in a pan and cook the onions until translucent. Add the bacon and the ginger and cook until the onions are soft and the bacon slightly crispy.
• Add Sambal Oelek to taste (it is very hot) and the pickled green peppercorns.
• Serve the soup with the topping and some bread.

Notes

Or pork belly if you don't care about the extra calories.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/6 of the dish | Calories: 437kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 6457mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 25g

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