The most amazing Vegan Creamy Mushroom Soup -or- Sally's obvious mushroom fetish.

OK. I admit it.

This is my third post in a week involving mushrooms. I love them. I love them this much. Creamy mushroom soup has always been my favourite kind of soup. It brings up childhood memories of my Nana and Grandad, going to their house and making crafts and having mushroom soup for dinner with two pieces of bread.
I always thought that for a real nice creamy soup, you had to add cream. That is such a fallacy. Although, admittedly when i first started making this vegan soup 8 years ago, I didn't quite have it perfected and could taste soy milk quite specifically. This soup here though, is perfect. I could eat it for days. Months. Years.

Serves 2-4, depending on how hungry you are.

Time: 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Six cups of mushrooms, chopped. I used button mushrooms.
• One table spoon of oil.
• One chopped onion.
• One teaspoon of minced garlic.
• Half a teaspoon of seeded mustard.
• Half a teaspoon of dried thyme.
• Half a teaspoon of smoked paprika.
• Two cups of soy (or your favourite) milk.
• One bay leaf.
• Quarter of a cup of light soy sauce.

I choose to use soy sauce instead of salt. If you want to use a stock cube instead, feel free. I try to limit salt in my diet as I believe it's used all to readily in western cooking. The soy sauce also gives the soup a depth of flavour which is fabulous.

Method:

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion. Stir regularly and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and stir. Add in the thyme, smoked paprika, and mustard. Cook until a small amount of liquid is released from the mushies and then add the soy milk, soy sauce and the bay leaf. Reduce the heat and put a lid on the pan, leaving a small gap for steam to escape. Let simmer for about 30 minutes, checking regularly and giving it the odd stir. After 30 minutes, remove the bay leaf and blend until its the consistency you desire.

Serve with some crusty garlic bread, as Gordy made here: