In another episode of no rice Sunday, I was wondering what to make. I had made soups and some roasted vegetables the last few weeks and wanted something different. I was thinking of making a vegetable stew,but didn’t want to make a Kerala-styled coconut milk one. So I decided to improvise and hope and pray it turned out to be edible!

The recipe turned out to be a cross between a soup and a gravy curry and was so flavourful. It is also very healthy with just a tbsp of oil used in the entire recipe. Another good thing about the recipe is that it is a one-pot recipe and would work beautifully for a slow cooker. It just cooks by itself and you need not sit around, stirring and adding ingredients.

My family loved it and I am blogging about it so I can add it to my reportoire and make it another day.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized onions, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped bigger than bite sized
• 2 potatoes, chopped
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small cup frozen green peas
• 3-4 medium sized tomatoes, minced
• 2 green apples, minced (optional)
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1-2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 15 cashew nuts, soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes
• 15-20 peanuts, soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste
• Water as required

Method:

• Chop the vegetables into pieces larger than bite-sized. I chopped them roughly into 3/4 to 1 inch pieces. Just make sure all the vegetables, with the exception of the green peas are of roughly the same size. Wash and keep aside.
• Mince the onions into small, fine pieces. I did this using my food processor which took me seconds as compared to chopping by hand.
• Heat the oil in a large pan or dutch oven and when the oil warms up, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add the fennel seeds and stir for a couple of seconds.
• Now add the onions and stir well and let the onions soften and become translucent.
• Once the onions are translucent, add the chopped green bell pepper and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes.
• Then add the dry spices – turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder and stir well.
• Now add the other chopped vegetables and stir well so the vegetables are covered with the spices. Cover and cook on a medium flame for about 5 minutes.
• While this is cooking mince or grate the tomatoes and green apples and keep aside. I again used the food processor and minced both ingredients together.
• Then add the minced tomatoes and green apple to the vegetables, lower the flame to a medium-low and let it cook till the vegetables are about 80% cooked. You can also add water to the vegetables at this point, because it will become quite thick with all the vegetables.
• While the vegetables are cooking, blend the cashewnuts and peanuts into a smooth paste. Keep aside.
• Once the vegetables are about 80% cooked, add the garam masala and the blended cashew-peanut paste and add any seasoning if needed.
• Let it continue to cook on a low flame till the vegetables are completely cooked and serve hot with some crusty bread.
• If you plan to make this ahead of time, then you may need to add some water when you heat it up before serving because it will thicken up because of the cashewnuts and peanuts. If you are going to add more water, then you will need to check seasoning also which may become diluted.