Soups are lush & juicy and this vegan pea & mint soup eminently fits the bill. The garden peas are rich in protein & when paired with wholemeal bread or toast the balance is perfect amino acid wise.
Of course it’s not just “peas and mint” – but the other veggies are only there to fill out the flavours & give depth. Mainly potato, onion and celery, and you can always add that half a pepper or cabbage to use it up. I wouldn’t add things like mushrooms, but most things in small quantities are fine. They add to the nutrition and save them being wasted.
Some recipes call for “freshly hulled garden peas”. Right – who’s going to volunteer to hull them? Exactly! Just buy some frozen petit pois – ok maybe you won’t feel so virtuous but so what! Frozen peas are probably fresher, and will definitely taste sweeter.
With the veg I would recommend washing them all, then just chop & chuck in the pan one after the other. Careful cutting doesn’t matter as this is a blended soup. You just need to cut them small enough that they sautee well before simmering. One to two cm pieces is fine. Same with the mint – but it does need destalking which is time consuming: then roughly chopping.
Don’t over cook the veggies – follow the times for the simmering. Once it’s blended that’s it – all done. I prefer to use a stick blender – a battery operated one – then you can take it to the pan.
If you have a freezer, make a double quantity of vegan pea & mint soup then portion it up in take-away containers or similar. The multiply function is at the top of the recipe! I bought a whole box on the internet – 500 for about £27.00 – it makes them stack well. Use the labels function in MS Word or similar to batch print all the labels: that makes it dead quick. I use the Avery 5 by 13 printer labels – they are just right for the job.
Vegan Pea & Mint Soup
Ingredients
- 15 g extra virgin olive oil a little more than a tablespoon
- 100 g celery stalks chopped fairly small pieces approx 3 medium stalks
- 250 g onion chopped 2 good sized medium onions
- 200 g diced potato one medium approx
- 100 g broccoli florets
- 25 g garlic chopped
- 2 whole cubes of vegetable stock one onion & one veg or umami is good
- 1000 g water
- 500 g fresh or frozen peas
- 15 g of fresh mint
- ½ teasp freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teasp salt lo-salt is healthiest
Instructions
- select and wash/scrub all the veg you're going to use.
- Put a large pan (5 litre) on low heat with 1 tablespoon (15g) of extra virgin olive oil.
- chop the onions/garlic
- and toss in giving a quick stir to distribute the oil
- straight afterwards, chop the celery
- Tip the celery in the pan and stir
- Dice the potato into smallish roughly 1cm pieces
- Add the diced potatoes and any other veg you have to hand like half a carrot, pepper or courgette that you may have lurking in the fridge. This is a great way to use them up.
- turn the heat up a little and keep stiring frequently - it wants to start mushing down a litle and softening. You may need to add a little water to prevent it from sticking - but just a little.
- Boil a kettle with 1000ml of water.
- While the kettle is boiling, crumble the stock cube and add along with the salt and ground black pepper.
- Add boiling water to the pan and turn up the heat to get it boiling.
- add the frozen peas too
- As soon as it's boiling properly, turn the heat to very low, and cover with a lid. It should just be boiling but only very gently.
- Simmer for about 10 minutes. If you have any other suitable cooked veggies like carrot, cabbage etc that you want to use up, you can add them after 5 minutes. Small quantities and nothing with too strong a taste. The peas should be quite soft.
- When the peas have softened add the black pepper and mint leaves, simmer gently for a further 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and with a powerful stick blender blend the pea and mint soup until fairly smooth – no need to overdo it though.
- This soup can be served hot or cold. If serving cold, transfer the soup to the refrigerator to chill.
- Otherwise serve straight away with hot "buttered" toast or warm wholemeal pitta.
- portion up for the freezer if that's your plan - 345g per portion
- Label with weight, type and date for ease of reference.
One Response
Love this. Easy to follow and a healthy recipe. Great tips and fantastic for people who want to try new meals/ gain confidence cooking. Thank you