Hearty Vegetable Soup
This Hearty Vegetable Soup is so good for the cold weather in Johannesburg. I did mention I am not a salad or soup fan but I do eat it.
I must admit though that this soup is a whole other level.
Hearty Vegetable Soup
I added my own little touch to it so that it doesn’t taste all bland. As long as there’s loads of flavour I’m good.
Add some crusty bread on the side and it makes it a perfect meal. My family loved this soup and ate it without a complaint.
When I worked in corporate I obviously stocked up on a lot more convenience produce than I do now. These days I have a little more time so I put some effort into my cooking.
Ingredients Required for the Soup
I added some Indian Spice, like turmeric (which is really good for you) cumin and a hint of curry powder. Not enough to burn your mouth but it does give the soup a little kick.
You will need veggies. Any vegetable could work for this soup, I used had some carrots, celery, potatoes and spinach and I added some brown lentils.
Vegetable stock gives the soup a punch of flavor too, so you can make your own or use store bought. And then of course, onion, bay leaf, celery, garlic and fresh thyme.
For the sake of my boys I sometimes add a little cream to my soup but this is totally optional. You don’t have to add the cream.
Especially if you want to keep it really healthy. I am trying to stay away from the cream so I didn’t any to my portion.
Cooking the soup
Soups are generally those dishes that are easy to cook. Besides sauteeing the onion, garlic and celery, the balance of ingredients are just added into a pot and it simmers away.
You can walk away for a whole hour and forget about it. On my side of the world it does take a whole hour because potoatoes take forever to cook.
If you’re not at high altitude like we are you may be able to quick it in a shorter time. However, it is best to let your soup simmer for a while so you can get a good flavor punch.
I used 4 cups of vegetable stock but you can add a bit more water if it’s too thick. You can use your discretion here.
Serving the Soup
Some crusty garlic bread is what I love with this Hearty Vegetable Soup. However, any crusty bread is perfect.
Even better is some cheese toasties. That’s heaven for me, if only I had my way and the health Gods weren’t keeping an eye on me.
You can also top it up with some croutons too. I love it when I have different textures in my food.
However, I didn’t have any croutons at hand. And yes they are easy to make but I was too lazy to even bother.
I hope you do try this recipe and if you love it as much as my fussy family did please drop me a comment and star rating.
More recipes you may want to try:
Turmeric Butternut Squash Soup
First Published: May 10, 2021 Updated: April 17, 2024
Hearty Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 medium carrots
- 2 small potatoes peeled and cubed
- 2 celery stalks finely chopped
- 2 small bay leaf
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 tsp curry powder see note 1
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 cup brown lentils
- 3 roma tomatoes skin removed and chopped
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups baby spinach
- salt
- pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh cream (optional)
Instructions
- Add olive oil, bay leaf, onion, thyme, carrots and celery to a pot. Saute until the onion is translucent
- Add the garlic and fry for a minute
- Mix in the turmeric, cumin and curry powder and fry for a minute
- Add the tomatoes and potatoes
- Mix in the vegetable stock. Season with more salt if required. Add some pepper
- Allow it to simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the potatoes are soft and tender
- You can keep the soup chunky or you can remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and use a blender and blend the soup a little. Add cream if you are using some
- Once you blend it a little, add the spinach and heat just a little until it wilts
- Garnish with some parsley and serve hot with some crusty bread
Notes
- I used the Woolworths hot curry powder and I must say it takes this soup to a whole new level. However, not everyone may have access to it so any curry powder will do
- The cream is totally optional but it does add a lovely richness to the soup
- Be careful when adding salt because the stock already has salt so you may not need too much
This was so easy to make and absolutely delicious and full of flavour.
Thank you so much Pravashnie:-)