On the face of it, this sounds an odd combination, and yet it works beautifully; the sweet, earthy autumnal flavour of the beetroot melds very well indeed with the zesty brightness and creamy coconut tastes of Thailand to produce a smooth, sophisticated soup that goes very well with sour dough bread or even prawn crackers. The coconut mik in this soup needs to be quite light. We've found that if you buy the reduced fat coconut milk, open the can without shaking it, pour off the liquid part and use that, it works well. Then you can dilute the remaining thicker half with a little water and freeze it for next time. We've also recently found Maggi powdered coconut to be excellent for making curries and this soup, though the packet instructions are a little heavy handed; we found 40g of powder to 400mls of water to be perfect. The best thing to make this in is a wok with a tight fitting lid

500g raw fresh beetroots

1 large mashing potato, peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks

400mls light coconut milk

2 tbsps nam pla or fish sauce

1 lime, juiced

The stock:-

2 small onions, finely chopped

4 stalks lemongrass, roughly chopped

1 thumb sized chunk galangal, sliced

2 thumb sized chunks fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

6 kaffir lime leaves

50g coriander stalks, chopped

20g dill stalks, chopped

1 medium strength red chilli, deseeded and chopped

• Do not top and tail the beetroots, just rinse them, brushing off any muck, then wrap them individually in tin foil, put in a steel baking tray, and put into the oven. Set it to 200C. Bake for 90 minutes, then unwrap and allow to cool till you can handle them

• With 40 minutes to go on the beetroots, melt a tablespoon of coconut oil in a wok, and when hot, add all the stock ingredients, and fry gently till the onions are soft. Add 650 mls of water, bring to the boil, and simmer for 30 minutes with a lid on. Sieve all the solid ingredients out and discard them, then put the stock back on to simmer, adding the potato chunks

• Once the beetroot are cool enough to handle, peel them and cut into 2.5cm chunks then, once the potato is cooked, add the beetroot and the coconut milk to the stock, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Then blend till ultra smooth, and put back in the wok. Add the nam pla, lime juice and some salt, bit by bit, till the taste is as you want it; it should be sharp and sweet, yet earthy and deep. Serve, sprinkled with whole coriander leaves, with sourdough bread or prawn crackers