
It’s so green and lush this spring! In contrast to the drought of previous years, it’s so lovely to see so many flowers blooming and the trees thick with new leaves. It’s a great time to be eating salad – and also the last of winter warming dishes before summer.
Before we totally move onto summer food, there are a few cooler days (still) that are perfect for comfort food. This year, it is forecast to rain – a lot – and it’s already started. Just last night there was a big thunder storm. So it’s a great time for soups, usually a winter staple.
There are many things to love about soups. They are warming, and filling, a dieter’s friend and also fabulously frugal. Like this soup, which is super easy: the super soup. This is made from a vegetable stock using leftover scraps, which is a great way to reduce food waste and improve our nutrition. It’s so much nicer than an instant stock cube!
Ingredients
A bag of vegetable scraps (I keep mine in the freezer until I need to use them)
1/3 a medium-sized leek or one onion
A splash of olive oil
1/4 Kent pumpkin
1 medium-sized zucchini
1/2 cup (100g) split yellow peas
2 dessertspoons korma paste
Salt and pepper
Method
- Place the vegetable scraps into a saucepan and cover with around 2 litres of water. Boil for half an hour to one hour. (I like to make mine in my Taiwanese electric Ta Tung cooker – basically, I set to steam and forget. A pressure cooker would also work well for this.)
- Strain the liquid to use in the soup, and compost the remaining scraps.
- Cut the Kent pumpkin into cubes. There is no need to peel as the skin is also edible. Drizzle with olive oil and bake. (Note: I’ll often do this a day or two before when I am using the oven for something else such as baking bread.)
- In a large heavy saucepan, add a splash of olive oil and fry the chopped leek rings. Add the zucchini, and fry both until they are starting to brown. I like a bit of that caramel flavour in my soup, but obviously, it’s important not to burn it.
- Add the korma paste and fry for a further minute, then add the split peas and the pumpkin. Cover with the split peas and cook for an hour until the split peas are mushy. (Note: a pressure cooker will reduce the cooking time.)
- Prior to serving, blitz with a stick blender. Serve with dollops of yoghurt and bread.
Cost
Leek or onion | $1.00 | |
Kent pumpkin, 1/4 | $1.60 | |
Zucchini | $1.18 | |
Split yellow peas – 100g | $0.34 | |
Korma paste | $0.50 | |
Total: | $4.62 |