Gardeners and organic farmers are very happy in winter as varieties of vegetables are available from their kitchen garden or balcony garden. Since this is the season of winter vegetables and green leafy vegetables, naturally everybody thinks of healthy vegetable soup recipes. How to make soup at home ? This is the time to experiment with innovative vegetable soup recipes and start cooking !!!
Here we have come up with top 6 winter garden vegetable soup recipes that will keep you not only healthy, but will inspire you to grow more vegetables in the winter season of harvest.
Before we start experimenting with different veg soup recipes, let us talk about one of the main ingredients of many soup recipes , that is vegetable stock or vegetable broth. It is one of the most common ingredients of different varieties of vegetable soups and the vegetable stock recipe is very simple and easy to follow.
What is vegetable stock?
Vegetable stock is typically a clear liquid made from boiling a variety of different vegetables and herbs in water. Generally, the less desirable parts of the vegetables that can not be eaten are used to prepare it. Of Course, the less desirable parts are clean and edible, but are generally thrown away while cooking the vegetable recipe. Sometimes, vegetable herbs are also added for taste and medicinal properties.
Vegetable stock is also called vegetable broth. In the market, vegetable stock is available in tin cans ready to use for soups and other recipes. It is also available in powder and cube format, but it has to be boiled in water for 10 to 15 minutes before using it.
What not to put in vegetable stock?
Please note that while making a basic vegetable stock or broth, select vegetables with neutral ,but savoury flavours. Also, avoid adding salt to it. We are going to use this vegetable stock or broth in many soup recipes. Every leftover of the vegetables or complete vegetables can not be used for making vegetable stock or broth. Generally, vegetables like potatoes, beetroot and peas are not used for making vegetable stock or broth for obvious reasons.
Knorr and Maggie are the two brands that sell vegetable stock or broth in cube and powder format.
Spiced Root Vegetable Soup
Our first recipe is spiced root vegetable soup and as the name suggests, the root component of the vegetable becomes very important in this soup recipe. It is made spicy with red chilly , onions and coriander powder.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 fine chopped onions
- 2 chopped sweet potatoes
- 2 chopped carrots
- 2 parsnip carrat
- 1 chopped red chilly
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- 1 liter vegetable stock
- 425 ml milk
- 100 g yogurt
- 1 tablespoon green coriander leaf powder
Method:
- Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.
- Add chopped onion and mix well till the onion becomes light redish in color.
- Now add the remaining vegetables and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add chill and coriander to it.
- Pour vegetable stock into it and let it boil.
- Pour milk and let it boil. If necessary, pour more vegetable stock.
- Add more veggie stock if needed.
- After 25 minutes of boiling , serve it with yogurt topping and sprinkled coriander powder.
Carrot And Ginger Soup
Carrot and ginger soup must be consumed daily in the winter season for being healthy and it is essential for increasing immunity. The ginger present in the soup helps in preventing common cold, cough, and sore throat. Ginger has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Ingredients:
- 3 large carrots
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 spoonful of pepper
- 20 gram bread
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 200 ml vegetable stock
- Peel the carrot and cut it into fine chopped pieces.
- Pour chopped carrot pieces, ginger, turmeric, pepper, bread, cream and vegetable stock in a mixer and mix it.
- Mix them until it becomes like a thin paste.
- Put it into a pot for boiling for sometime.
- Remove after 10 minutes after boiling and sever in bowls.
- You can sprinkle pepper and cream on the top as topping.
- You can also add salt as per your likeliness.
Beetroot and Onion Seeds Soup
- 250 g boiled beetroot
- 100 g canned dal or lentil dal
- 1 small apple
- 1 garlic mashed up
- 1 tsp onion seed extra for serving
- 250 ml vegetable stock
- Grind the above ingredients until they are sliced thin in a blender.
- The goal is to make it like a paste of the above ingredients.
- Afterwards boil the paste in the microwave or on the gas.
- Serve the mixture with sprinkled onion seeds on the top.
Creamy Mushroom Soup
- 25 gram dried mushroom
- 50 gram butter
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 1 finely chopped garlic
- 400 ml mixed wild mushroom
- 850 ml vegetable stock
- 200 ml cream
- 4 slices of white bread and truffle oil
- Boil the mushroom in water in a pot and keep it covered.
- On the other side, take a sauce pan and fry the chopped onion pieces in butter till the onion pieces become reddish.
- Remove mushroom from the boiled water and keep mushroom aside.
- In the same boiled water, pour the mixture of sauce pan of onion pieces , vegetable stock and afterwards wild mushroom.
- Keep it boiling for at least 20 minutes.
- Afterwards, make a thin paste with hand blender. Your soup is ready.
- Fry the sliced white breads in with butter in a sauce pan.
- Server the soup with sliced white bread topping and garnish with truffle oil.
Broccoli Soup
- 300 gram broccoli
- 3 tomatoes medium size
- 2 potatoes
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 7-8 black pepper
- 4 pieces of clove
- 1 piece of cinnamon
- salt as per taste
- 1 or 2 tsp cream
- coriander as per taste
- Cut the broccoli into pieces and rinse thoroughly with water.
- Keep the water warm in a pot enough to sink the broccoli flowers.Please remember to rinse the broccoli flowers.
- When the water is boiling, go on adding the broccoli pieces.
- Keep this in a pot aside after 2 minutes of boiling.
- Wash the tomatoes and cut them into small pieces. Finely chop the potatoes. Also, broccoli stems and ginger into small pieces.
- In another sauce pan, heat a table spoon full of the black pepper, cream, clove and cinnamon.
- Take a pot of boiling water and mix the above in the boiling water along with the fine pieces tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli and ginger.
- Increase the water level while boiling and open the lid after 6-7 minutes.
- Make sure tha potatoes are cooked properly and mashed up.
- Make the mixture cool and mix it in a blender.
- Server the mixture in a bowl with salt as per taste. Sprinkle the soup with coriander or cream.
- Your broccoli soup is ready.
Pumpkin Soup
It is a very creamy soup due to addition of cream in the soft pumpkin. It is a very healthy soup and the spice content in it is in moderate proportion.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 finely chopped onions
- 1 liter cooked pumpkin
- 700 ml veggie stock
- 150 ml double cream
- Some pumpkin seeds as needed
- Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan.
- Then fry the onion to it.
- Add chopped pumpkin pieces and fry and keep shuffling.
- Now add veggie stock in it.
- Then add salt and pepper to taste.
- Keep boiling the above mixture until it becomes some what solid.
- When it becomes solid in form like paste stop boiling, mix with blender.
- Mix with vegetable stock and serve it with sprinkling of pumpkin seeds.