In North Hampshire, summertime is near the end, and autumn is around the corner. As soon as the weather turns chilly, the food I crave the most is soup. Soup is not only easy to make, especially plant-based soups, but it also is the easiest way to use up what’s left in the fridge. Remember: cutting down food waste reduces our climate impact!
So, in this post, I want to show you one of my favourite vegan soup recipes. It’s quick, satisfying, and of course, yummy, too! You might ask why vegan soup. Because I firmly believe the fewer animal products we consume, the more positive impacts we’ll have on the environment.
Why soup?
Soup is primarily liquid food by boiling various ingredients in water or stock. When making it right, it’s comforting, nourishing, and flavourful. Other reasons people might prefer soups over other dishes are:
- Soups can be a budget-friendly dish and don’t require much cooking time, especially plant-based soups.
- It can be made ahead of time and freezes well – suitable for a busy lifestyle.
- It makes us full for longer.
- It provides better dietary quality, such as getting our 5-a-day and other nutrition, minerals and proteins for our body health.
- Hot soups can increase our body temperature quickly on cold weather days.
- The dish is versatile and can be modified to suit everyone’s taste buds.
- When people are sick, they want to have soups because they’re soothing and easier for digestion.
Thick soup vs thin soup
Some people might refer to the thin soup as ‘broth’, but the former can be further divided into two sub-categories, passed soup and unpassed soup. Thick soup can also be broken down into five sub-groups: cream soup, puree soup, veloute soup, bisque soup and chowder soup.
As a home cook, I don’t care too much which type (or subtype) of soups I’m making as long as it’s tasty and quick to make. Before moving to the UK, I used to have mainly thin soups. Thin soups are prepared without a thickening agent, such as cream or starchy vegetables.
I make thick soups these days more often because they have all the ingredients extracted and are easier to digest. In addition, they’re a perfect pairing when served with a slice of soft white bread.
Homemade soup vs canned soup
Although canned soup is super convenient, I would always go for homemade soup because you just can’t beat the freshness and nourishment from making your own soup. Besides, canned soups are known for adding too much salt – something soup manufacturers do to enhance the soups’ flavour. Others could have too much fat. They taste good, but their excessive salt or fat could cause damage to our health.
If I only have time to prepare canned soup, I would pour the soup into the saucepan, add at least 1/3 cup of water and some veggies that can be quickly cooked, such as spring onion, spinach, lettuce, frozen peas, then heat them all together to make it as a quick meal. That way, the sodium in the canned soup can be diluted, and I also ensure I get my 5-a-day.
Hot vs cold soup
I don’t do cold soup at all. I always have my soups, either thin or thick, hot because I feel only hot soups can bring me comfort. Cold soups, to me, feel more like unfinished business. However, I know plenty of people enjoy a bowl of cold soup on a hot day.
When I think of cold soups, I am thinking of those soups commonly served cold, such as gazpacho, beet soup or chilled cucumber soup. But what if one takes out the soup from the fridge and eats it without heating it? Some culinary experts might argue that it shouldn’t be classified as ‘cold’ soup. Instead, they should be called ‘chilled’ soup. But some soups taste better the next day because flavours blend better over a more extended time.
If cold soups are your cup of tea, you can try the recipes here.
Vegan courgette pea soup
Equipment
- 1 immersion blender (or food processor)
- 1 saucepan with a lid
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 courgettes (1 large and 1 medium size or 3 medium size)
- 100 grams peas (fresh or frozen)
- 2 tbsp spring onions
- 1 celery stick (keep some leaves)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tsp garlic powder
- 1 vegetable stock (dissolve it in 500ml boiling water)
- 2 tsp mint (optional)
Instructions
- Slice courgettes and place them in a single layer on the baking tray.
- Spray a bit of cooking oil on the courgettes and rub in smoked paprika and garlic powder.
- Set the oven to 180C and roast courgettes for 15 – 20 minutes in the oven. (see *note 2)
- At the same time, finely chopped onions, celery and mint.
- Heat the oil in the saucepan, add chopped onions, and fry until the onion is soft.
- Add spring onion. Add a splash of vegetable stock if the pan gets too dry.
- Add chopped celery, celery leaves and mint and fry for a minute.
- Add peas.
- Add roasted courgettes and mix them well with the ingredients in the pan.
- Add vegetable stock. (see *note 3)
- Turn the heat down and put the lid on. Let the soup cook for another 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Once the soup cools down a bit, blend it.
- Taste the soup and add salt and pepper if needed.
