Creamless cream of broccoli and tomato soup

Tools required:

Immersion blender or food processor

Main ingredients:

1 cup of vegetable stock (or water)
1/4 cup soy milk
1 large head of broccoli
1/2 or 1 yam (optional)
1 leek (tough green part trimmed)
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato paste
1 tsp of Madras Masala powder or any spice
(Alternatively, use jar of any Indian style sauce)

About the ingredients:

In this recipe I wanted to experiment with making a soy-based cream of broccoli soup, but decided to add tomato paste as well. The proportion is up to you. Leeks are a great alternative to onion, very creamy and gentle vegetable that is nice cooked or fresh. Making your own sauce is a healthier alternative to store-bought sauces. I bought my spices at the Vegetarian Fair (Toronto) recently and love them: http://www.arvindas.com

If you are using water, you can also add a little mustard or soy sauce to improve the flavor. You can also use vegetable bullion cubes.

Short directions:

1. Cut up and fry all the vegetables
2. Add stock, soy milk, and tomato sauce
3. Blend into smooth mixture

Longer directions:

1. Cut yam into small pieces if using
2. In a large pot, put olive oil and fry the yam for 10min
3. Cut broccoli into smaller florets and add to pot
4. Roughly chop the leek and add to pot
5. Fry vegetables until starting to soften
6. Add stock, soy milk, tomato paste and spices
7. Cook on medium heat until soft
8. Cool (or not, if you are careful) and puree the mixture
9. Add water, sauce, or soy milk if necessary

| Click here for directions

Akroshka or Chlodnik (East European cold soup)

акрошка

Main ingredients:

1 english cucumber
2 medium-large potatoes, boiled in skin and cleaned
4 eggs hard boiled
1 can of green peas
2 bunches of green onion (8 stems)
a small bunch of fresh dill
1L jar of organic 3.8% fat keffir or container of sour cream
medium or firm tofu (optional for extra protein)
1.5L of boiled and cooled water
lime or lemon juice

Directions:

1. Cut all the ingredients into small chuncks
2. Put potatoes, cucumber, eggs, can of green peas, dill, green onion, and tofu into big pot
3. Add about 1L of boiled, cooled water
4. Add 1L of keffir OR a 1/2 or full container of fatty sour cream
5. Add 1tbsp of lime or lemon juice
6. Add salt to taste
7. Add more water and keffir as needed, and stir well
8. Cool in the fridge

Notes:

The soup should be filling, so don't make it too liquidy. If it's too watery, add keffir, salt, and more lime juice. Some acidity is key. In my family, we always added a spoon or two of mayo, but this is not necessary. You can eat the soup as soon as it's chilled, but if you can, let it stand for an hour.

Red variety:

This soup can also be made by using some barsht (beet soup) as a base. You can buy barsht or beet juice in stores or you can quickly boil beets in some water with onion and carrot to make a basic stock. Beet akroshka has a very different taste. You should try it.
| Click here for directions

Vegetarian Borsh (East European beet soup)

борщ вегетарианский (barsht, borsht, barszcz)

Main ingredients:

vegetarian stock
1 medium-sized beet
mushrooms
lime
soy sauce
grains (quinoa works great; rice or barley should be precooked)
OR
beans and chickpeas (soak overnight if using)
OR
potatoes

On vegetarian stock:

At some point, I will post a good vegetarian stock recipe and update this section. For now, please refer to the many recipes online. You can always use water instead of stock, provided you have enough ingredients that will cook together long enough to flavor the water.

Stock is the flavored liquid made by boiling a lot of vegetables for 40min to 1hr. The main ingredients typically include a whole onion (skin removed), carrot, celery, anise if you like it. I like to add fresh or roasted garlic. Experiment with spices, laurel leaf, kaffir lime leaf or lemongrass stalk if you have it.

I don't have a set method, so sometimes the stock doesn't quite work. I have my preferred ways of "fixing" watery soup. I usually add lime juice (you can also try a dash of wine). Chilli paste and ketchup work well. Soy sauce and miso paste are my standard fall-back flavorings.

Recommended flavoring:

cloves (if you like them, but use sparingly)
kaffir lime leaf, unless there's some in the stock
pepper

About the ingredients:

Vegetarian borsh is more beety than the non-vegetarian version, but it depends on the depth of the stock and how long you boil the soup. I like borsht that tastes clean and beets that are still crispy. If you don't like that, I've found that boiling more makes it less beety. If the beets drain of colour, you've overboiled.

Beets are good sources of folic acid and potassium. They act as a tonic for the digestive system and the heart. Beet juice apparently helps control cancer (Source: Biggs, et al. Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruit). Cloves have antibacterial properties and soothe the intestinal tract (Meletis, Chris. Complete Guide to Safe Herbs).

Optional preparation:

1. Roast the beets in foil with mushrooms, cloves, garlic, and salt
2. Pre-soak beans or chickpeas if using them
3. Pre-cook rice or barley slightly if using them

Quick directions:

1. Fry all the vegetables a bit, then add all other ingredients and fry some more
2. Add water and boil for a few minutes
3. Add soy sauce and seasoning to taste

Detailed directions:

1. Put 3 tbs of olive oil in a deep pan
2. Cut beets finely and fry on medium heat until they start to soften
3. Add potatoes and mushrooms if using them
4. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, chilli paste if using it
5. Once the vegetables are almost cooked, add 2-3 cups of water (best to use already boiling water from the kettle)
6. Add rice or barley if using it
7. Bring to a gentle boil
8. Add lime juice to taste
9. Add a few tbs of soy sauce (Note! Do not add salt yet, as soy sauce is salty)
10. Add more spices, flavoring, etc. to taste
| Click here for directions

Cream of celery and carrot soup

Tools required: food processor (e.g., Magic Bullet)

Main ingredients:

Celery bunch (try substituting other vegetables!)
Carrot
1 medium potato
Medium onion and 3 cloves of garlic
Sour cream or kefir - 1/4 to 1/2 cup (omit for vegan or use silken tofu)

Recommended flavoring:

Spices (e.g., pepper, turmeric, oregano)
Ginger
Laurel leaf or kaffir lime leaf
Basil leaves

About the ingredients:

It's easy to make a lot of this delicious soup and freeze it for later. I recommend you experiment with combining cooked with fresh ingredients. Mixing in a fresh ingredient adds some nutritional content, highlights some of the vegetable's distinctive flavour, and adds some texture variation.

Celery is high in potassium and promotes urinary health. Carrot contains lots of vitamin A and some vitamin E. It's said to be a remedy for diarrhoea, nervousness, asthma, skin disorders, and slowing some cancers. Onion is an antiseptic that helps fight infections in cold and flu season. Garlic is an antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. It's good for the stomach. It is also said to fight certain types of cancer and reduce the risk of heart attack. Basil helps with fatigue and aids digestion. Ginger is good for the sore throat and reduces symptoms of nausea, fever, and maldigestion. (Source: Biggs, et al. Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruit)

Spices, such as turmeric, also add nutritional value to a meal.

Quick directions:

1. Cut and fry the vegetables with preferred spices/flavors
2. Add cup of water and simmer
3. Cool mixture until lukewarm or cool
3. Puree the mixture

Detailed directions:

Cut and fry the vegetables:
1. Put pan on medium heat with 2-3 table spoons olive oil
2. Cut up potato and carrot, and add to pan
3. While potato and carrot are frying, cut up 1/2 bunch of celery and 1 onion
4. Add celery, onion, spices and salt to pan (I prefer a pinch of turmeric and oregano)
5. A few minutes later, add chopped garlic (3 cloves) and 1 tsp grated ginger (or squeezed out juice). Add more if you like ginger, but too much can taste bitter.
6. Fry until potatoes start to soften, stirring occasionally

Add water and simmer:
7. Add laurel leaf and/or kaffir lime leaf
8. Add one cup of water (just enough to fill mixture)
9. Wait for 5 minutes while the mixture boils
10. Cool the mixture on the balcony (10-15 minutes at 10'C)

Cool mixture until lukewarm
11. Verify that pan contents are lukewarm or cool (Be careful!)

Puree the mixture:
12. Transfer contents to a food processor
13. Add a fresh stalk of celery (roughly chopped) and a few leaves of bail to taste
14. Add sour cream or kefir if using it
15. Puree until smooth

Serve hot or cold (I prefer hot) | Click here for directions