Breath of the Wild: Monster Soup

In Breath of the Wild, Kilton the merchant is extremely interested in purchasing monster parts. His traveling shop, Fang and Bone, is a great place for Link to offload his extra monster loot. Kilton purchases the items in exchange for Mon, which can only be used at his shop. One of the items you can purchase from him is monster extract. This is an important ingredient for creating delicious monster style recipes. Besides the extract, Kilton sells a large variety of monster masks. These masks allow Link to blend in with the hordes of monsters all throughout Hyrule. I love being able to throw on a Bokoblin mask on and just chill with a bunch of them. It allows me to really see how the monsters interact on a normal day with their fellow monsters. It is important to make sure that you don’t harm any of the monsters during your visit because they will immediately blame the new guy.

The monster-based foods from Breath of the Wild have been recipes I’ve wanted to create for a long while now. My biggest concern was to be consistent with the game and create a monster extract base that would work across all of the recipes. After a few attempts, I found an extract that I believe could work in all of them and reflect what I believe is the monster’s diet in Breath of the Wild. The combination of berries, coconut milk, and fish sauce gives the extract a fruity yet pungent flavor which compliments the monster-based dishes. Another goal I had with the monster recipes was to avoid using food coloring to get that strong purple color in each dish. For the monster soup, I was able to find purple sweet potatoes and purple cauliflower to really amplify the purple color. If you are unable to find the purple variety, you can still enjoy this soup with normal colored sweet potato and cauliflower. It may not be purple but it will still certainly be tasty!

Monster Extract Ingredients:
2 oz blackberries
2 oz blueberries
2 tbsp pomegranate juice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp fish sauce
½ cup coconut milk

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Transfer to an airtight container through a mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator until you are going to use it. This extract will be fresh in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Soup Ingredients:
2 small purple sweet potatoes
½ purple cauliflower, cut into large chunks
canola oil
1 fennel bulb, top discarded and bulb chopped
½ onion, chopped
½ red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried sage
2 cups vegetable broth
1 lime, juiced
salt
pepper

Garnish
scallions (or chives)
coconut cream

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Take each of the sweet potatoes and stab them several times with a fork. Wrap each of the sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and then place on a baking sheet. Roast the sweet potatoes for 60 minutes.

At about 40 minutes of the potatoes roasting, add the cauliflower to the baking sheet and allow to roast for the remaining 20 minutes. Once the time has passed, set the cauliflower to the side. Check if the sweet potatoes are done by piercing one with a knife. If it inserts easily, it is ready. Otherwise, roast until it is soft enough.

Heat a pot over medium heat and coat with canola oil. Add the fennel bulb, onion, red onion, and garlic and cook until they are soft, about 8 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle the softened vegetables with the thyme and sage. Add the roasted vegetables and vegetable broth and bring to a slight boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and transfer the contents in the pot into a blender and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and turn on the heat to low. Add the monster extract and lime juice. Heat until the soup has warmed all the way through. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve in a bowl topped with the garnishes.