Monday, March 18, 2013

Quick and Healthy Vegetarian soup



I get easily bored of making the same food again and again. So I'm always looking for new recipes. My full-time job does not leave me enough time to cook elaborate recipes, so my main search criteria for new recipes is that it has to be QUICK,EASY and yet HEALTHY. (Yes, I'm very demanding :))

So I came up with this super easy recipe for a very healthy vegetarian soup, and you can get really creative with this, adding whatever vegetables you like or skipping the ones you don't like from this recipe. So here's the recipe. Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients (serves 2):
  • 1 cup mixed beans cooked (you can buy mixed bean packs from most grocery stores, or mix your own)
  • 1/2 large red onion, chopped (i like cutting onions in approx. 1cm X 1cm square shapes. Make 4-5 vertical cuts, the 4-5 horizontal cuts)
  • tomato puree from 3 ripe Roma tomatoes
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • 1 tsp lemon juice 
  • Add chopped green bell pepper, carrots or other vegetables if you'd like. I add or reject them depending on how much time I have. Just mixed beans are very healthy by themselves.


Here's a tip to cook beans perfectly:
In a microwave safe bowl, soak beans in water, and run in microwave for 7 minutes. Set aside until partially cool. Cooking in microwave quickens the process. Now cook it on gas in a pan filled with water. For soups, I don't like to pressure cook beans, else they get too mushy.

Method:
Heat oil in a pan.  Add chopped onions to heated oil and saute until golden brown. Add tomato puree. Add salt and black pepper and let it cook for 5-10 minutes or until raw taste of tomatoes is gone. Add cooked beans, add water for soup like consistency. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add lemon juice. Simmer for a couple more minutes. Yummy soup is ready to be served!