Spanish Healthy Vegetable Soup

Yield: 4 -5 peopleprep 15 min, cook 30 min, total 45 min

mainssoupspanish stylewesternhealthy vegetable soup

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion (, finely chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (, minced)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp fennel seeds ((optional))
• 2 medium carrots (, finely chopped)
• 1 large celery stalk/rib (, finely chopped)
• 2 red capsicums / bell peppers (, cut into 2 cm / 4/5" pieces)
• 5 cups cabbage (, cut into 3 cm / 1.2" pieces (about 400g/14oz))
• 800g / 28 oz crushed tomato
• 3 cups (750 ml) vegetable or chicken broth ((low fat!))
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika ((or any paprika))
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper ((adjust spiciness to taste))
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lemon - zest + juice to taste
• Finely chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 30 seconds or so.
2. Add oregano and fennel seeds, cook for 2 minutes (lets flavour "bloom").
3. Turn heat down to medium low. Add carrots and celery, cook, stirring regularly, for 8 minutes until onion is sweet (not browned). This step is key to the flavour base of this soup.
4. Add capsicum, turn heat up to high and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Add remaining Soup ingredients, bring to simmer then place lid on. Turn heat down to medium low, simmer for 25 minutes.
6. Remove lid, adjust salt and pepper to taste.
7. Ladle soup into bowls. Grate over lemon zest, squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve!

Notes

• 1. Feel free to add other vegetables you desire (other than red cabbage - turns it purple!)! Healthy low cal ones like zucchini, fennel, baby spinach (stir through at end), chopped beans, asparagus etc. will add more dimensions to the soup while keeping it very healthy. High carb vegetables like pumpkin, potato and peas (hidden carbs alert!) would also be terrific but will raise the calorie count of this soup. 2. Keeps great for 3 - 4 days. Add lemon zest and juice just before serving for best flavour. 3. The 0.4 points in this recipe is from the olive oil. I can't bring myself to omit it. The extra flavour you get from sauteing the vegetables and spices is a million times more valuable - and key to why this tastes so great! 4. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.

Source: recipetineats.com