Vegetable And Bean Soup
Vegetable And Bean Soup
Shalini Priyadarshini
Here's another soup recipe, similar to the Minestrone soup. This has more beans and fewer tomatoes. I developed it from a soup I had in Italy, this has more vegetables than the original one I had there. It is a low cholesterol, protein and nutrition rich, wholesome soup to make, a complete meal in itself, including all the major food groups.
This soup is a complete meal in itself. You can use seasonal vegetables like lauki, kaddu, green papaya, patta gobhi, singhade, kamal kakdi, mushrooms, all cut into 1/4" cubes. Make sure that the proportion of vegetables to beans remains the same.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
1 small potato, peeled and cut into 1/4" cubes
1/2 cup any fine pasta
10-12 fresh basil leaves or 1/2 tsp. dried basil (tulsi)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
Juice of 1 small lime
1 tsp. olive oil
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Soak overnight and boil until very soft. You can pressure cook beans for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a large pan. Add the onions and fry for 2 minutes.
Add all the vegetables stir.
Add the cooked beans (mash about 1/4 cup for a thicker soup), basil, oregano, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper.
Add 3 cups water. Bring to boil, cover with a tight lid and simmer for 1/2 hour or until the vegetables are cooked to a slight crunch and not mushy. Do not boil in pressure cooker as it will make the soup too mushy.
Boil 4 cups water in a separate pan. Add salt and the pasta. Cook the pasta till it is still a little hard, very "al dente" to chew.
Take off the stove, drain in a colander, and keep aside.
Add the pasta to the soup immediately before serving.
Serve the soup hot in large soup bowls with crusty bread.
Also see Soup Selection.
