Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OK, vegans, hit me with your favorite soup recipes. What do you put in your soups? What do you leave out?
There's a chain soup place that has a decent vegan soup called "12 vegetable" or something like that. I love it--there's no pasta or rice or thickeners in it, just vegetables like beans, carrots, tomatoes. It's SO good during this cold time of year, and I'd like to make a pot of vegan vegetable soup, but before I start my experimentation, I was wondering if anyone has any favorites.
I think I would like cabbage in mine for flavor. I could go the rest of my life without broccoli, although I eat it when it's there because I know it's good for me. Most other vegetables I'm fine with. Not thrilled with turnips, but in a soup I wouldn't mind. Love dried beans of different types.
I'm not a big fan of pasta in soup or out, but if that's a must-have in your soup, that's OK.
A very easy soup that I love. I use a 4-5 quart pot, peel a medium sweet potato and chop, then chop cauliflower and add it to the pot until it's loosely filled about 1-1/2 inches below the brim, throw in a couple of peeled garlic cloves, a big pinch of salt, a couple good shakes of white pepper, add veggie broth to nearly the same level as the veggies, bring to a low boil and cook for 12-15 minutes, take off heat and puree with a stick blender, add a shake or two of garam masala. Stir & serve.
A very easy soup that I love. I use a 4-5 quart pot, peel a medium sweet potato and chop, then chop cauliflower and add it to the pot until it's loosely filled about 1-1/2 inches below the brim, throw in a couple of peeled garlic cloves, a big pinch of salt, a couple good shakes of white pepper, add veggie broth to nearly the same level as the veggies, bring to a low boil and cook for 12-15 minutes, take off heat and puree with a stick blender, add a shake or two of garam masala. Stir & serve.
I make a yummy soup with a half a head of cabbage, shredded or however you want it, 1 can of tomato paste (you could use diced tomatoes I'm sure), a can of white beans (or 2 cups prepared from dry beans), and some cilantro. Put it all in a pot, add enough water to cover the cabbage, plus a little. Add salt and pepper and garlic and and as much cayenne pepper as you can stand, cook it until the cabbage is at the consistency you like.
But I sub cubed, pressed tofu for sausage and vegetable broth for beef broth. (I'm married to a carnivore so I make a sausage batch for him and a tofu batch for me)
I also will toss in some broccoli sometimes, or other veggies depending on what I have on hand. Celery is good in this soup too. Diced potatoes might work as well.
I usually start with a base of diluted V8 juice, toss in carrots, celery, herbs & spices, a couple cans of beans and/or chick peas, and whatever odds and ends I have in the fridge and freezer. Most recently, I had a half a small container of guacamole in the fridge, and it really added some oomph to the soup! I usually make a batch once per week and divvy it up into individual containers, so I have lunch for the week.
I make a yummy soup with a half a head of cabbage, shredded or however you want it, 1 can of tomato paste (you could use diced tomatoes I'm sure), a can of white beans (or 2 cups prepared from dry beans), and some cilantro. Put it all in a pot, add enough water to cover the cabbage, plus a little. Add salt and pepper and garlic and and as much cayenne pepper as you can stand, cook it until the cabbage is at the consistency you like.
I usually start with a base of diluted V8 juice, toss in carrots, celery, herbs & spices, a couple cans of beans and/or chick peas, and whatever odds and ends I have in the fridge and freezer. Most recently, I had a half a small container of guacamole in the fridge, and it really added some oomph to the soup! I usually make a batch once per week and divvy it up into individual containers, so I have lunch for the week.
That is funny--some years ago, I decided to go vegetarian for a period of time, and I made a vegetarian stew. V8 was my liquid base, and most of the things you listed went into the pot. But not guacamole!
But I sub cubed, pressed tofu for sausage and vegetable broth for beef broth. (I'm married to a carnivore so I make a sausage batch for him and a tofu batch for me)
I also will toss in some broccoli sometimes, or other veggies depending on what I have on hand. Celery is good in this soup too. Diced potatoes might work as well.
Hmm. I have been thinking of trying again to incorporate more tofu into meals, but I don't know how to make it palatable. (I am an omnivore trying to get to a place where I eat less meat, or maybe none.)
I had surgery last year, and a person made me a vegan tomato soup, which would have been delicious except for the blobs of white tofu floating in it. Something about that just made me gag--I am gagging right now as I type, just remembering what it looked like. I finally picked out the globs of tofu so I could eat the soup and tell this woman it was good.
After that, I had gone to a writer's retreat and one of the other attendees was a vegetarian so the chef made him something one night that looked very good--it was sort of triangles that looked as if they had been panfried to brownness--almost looked like a grilled cheese sandwich, and he said it was tofu. Now that seemed appetizing, although I don't know what it tasted like.
I did also have some kickass pumpkin tofu "cheesecake" a few months ago at a local vegan restaurant. That was delicious.
I think I just maybe have to learn more about tofu and ways to prepare it so that it is appealing.
It took me quite some time to develop a love for tofu, mostly because I'm not into mushy foods. But once I got to experimenting and finding ways to make it more appealing, I fell in love. The easiest are fried tofu triangles, which I make by slicing the tofu (make sure it's firm or extra firm, water-packed tofu) into 1/2 inch thick slabs, press the liquid out, cut them into triangles, then dust them with a flour and fry them in just enough cover the bottom the pan. Once they're nice and crisp, drain them on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. They're very tasty as is, but if you want to add them to a meal. Another variation is cut the tofu in cubes before frying, which really good when tossed into a salad or just eaten as is. I also make tofu "bacon" once in while, which is really easy.
If you have an Asian market in your area, you can find a lot of tofu variations. In the refrigerated section, look for tofu noodles, which look sort of like rubber bands and have a texture similar to linguine. Another good choice is dried yuba, which are nice and chewy when you add them to a stir-fry. Also try inari, which is basically a block of fried tofu that looks sort of like a knish, but the inside is hollow so you can fill it with rice and veggies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
Hmm. I have been thinking of trying again to incorporate more tofu into meals, but I don't know how to make it palatable. (I am an omnivore trying to get to a place where I eat less meat, or maybe none.)
I had surgery last year, and a person made me a vegan tomato soup, which would have been delicious except for the blobs of white tofu floating in it. Something about that just made me gag--I am gagging right now as I type, just remembering what it looked like. I finally picked out the globs of tofu so I could eat the soup and tell this woman it was good.
After that, I had gone to a writer's retreat and one of the other attendees was a vegetarian so the chef made him something one night that looked very good--it was sort of triangles that looked as if they had been panfried to brownness--almost looked like a grilled cheese sandwich, and he said it was tofu. Now that seemed appetizing, although I don't know what it tasted like.
I did also have some kickass pumpkin tofu "cheesecake" a few months ago at a local vegan restaurant. That was delicious.
I think I just maybe have to learn more about tofu and ways to prepare it so that it is appealing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
