Cold winter nights are here, and it’s soup time. Soups are comfort food for both your body and soul. Plus of course, you’ll spend less time in the kitchen, to give yourself a hearty meal that will see you to bed with your tummy full. The soups presented here are vegan and one-pot meals in themselves, and taste good with or without toasted bread.
Broccoli soup
Broccoli is packed with nutrients – vitamins, minerals, bioactive compounds, antioxidants and fibre. It’s also an easy veggie to cook with. Here we make it the star of a winter soup. This vegan soup is made with nutritional yeast, a wonderful product you must try if you haven’t so far. It is known as the vegan alternative for cheese with a salty, nutty taste, and is great to use as a thickener.
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
1.5 cups broccoli florets (do not throw the broccoli stem)
1/2 medium potato, boiled
1 /2 tbsp vegan soup stock powder
1 cup water
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
1/4 cup carrots
Salt to taste, grated thickly
Few drops lemon juice.
Instructions
Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and garlic, along with salt. Stir for a few minutes. Now, add broccoli stems and let them cook for a few minutes.
Add chopped potatoes and stir.
Add half of the broccoli florets and mix well.
Now, add water, soup stock powder and let it come to a boil. Once the vegetables are soft, turn off the heat. Blend with a hand blender. After you blend, add nutritional yeast flakes to it. This gives you that yummy cheesy flavor like cheddar.
Start heating the soup base; add remaining broccoli florets and grated carrots to your soup and get it to a boil. Add lemon juice and let it simmer for a few minutes. Best
served hot with toasted sourdough bread.
Minestrone soup
This classic vegan soup is one of the easiest you can make. It has something for everyone. Beans, zucchini, carrots, pasta. What more do you want?
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup beans (cannellini beans and black beans, soaked for
4 hrs)
½ tbsp stock powder or 2-3 cups warm water
1/4 cup carrots
1/2 cup pasta any type
1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup spinach/kale, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon juice optional
Instructions
Wash and soak beans in water for 4 hours or overnight. Heat oil in a saucepan; and add onion and garlic. Mix well with a spatula. Once onions turn translucent, add tomatoes and salt and let it cook.
Cook the tomatoes till they have softened.
Add beans along with 2 cups of warm water and stock powder.
Cover and cook for 15-20 mins or until they are soft. Add pasta, carrots and remaining water. let it cook for 5-7 minutes or until the pasta has cooked Add zucchini, chopped spinach and let it cook for a few minutes.
Optionally, add lemon juice before serving.
Note: You can also use canned beans for this recipe. Just run them through water to avoid extra salt. Soup also takes less time to cook this way.
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