Fall for simple mung bean soup

I love soup. I love everything though… I have this thing where I think everything is the best thing ever, and I often wonder if it devalues my validity when I say I really like something, because in fact, I really like everything?

But I do really like this soup, so in order to determine if it is actually good, or if that’s just me thinking it is, you’ll have to make it, or at least some variation of it.

Ok here are 4 things I love about soup:

1.  What I really love about this soup is that it’s really easy to make. Super simple. And you can deviate from the recipe and I bet you it will still taste amazing. That’s the beauty of soup – throw a bunch of vegetables in a pot (maybe sauté them first) then add some water, coconut oil and spices of your choosing, and chances are it will probably taste really good.

2. You can hide so much nutrition in soup, and your kids, fussy partners or parents won’t even know! From healing spices like turmeric and cayenne, to phytonutrient dense veggies such as kale, spinach, and broccoli the sky is really the limit. I love to sneak extra nutrition into anything I can. Ideally our meals should be as nutrient dense as possible – the most nutrition possible per square inch of food…I challenge you to make a game of this.

3. It is so warm and nourishing. There is nothing more healing for me than to come home after a long, cold day and have a nice warm bowl of soup. Soup is also really grounding thanks to it’s warming nature, and spices. Especially in fall, which in Ayurveda is known as Vata season, we want to phase out the leafy salads, light and airy meals, and substitute them for warming, dense foods such as soups, warm squash’s and sweet potato’s and other warming homemade meals.

4. As a vegan it is a really delicious, protein dense whole meal! A little trick I have to make soups or other meals a complete protein is to just add rice. I usually serve my soup over a bed of 1/4 or 1/2 cup of brown rice. This, paired with the lentils, beans or whatever I have chosen as my protein in the soup, will make a complete plant-based protein.

Now onto the good stuff – How I made this!

Ingredients:

•  2-3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 3 medium carrots chopped into coins
• 2-3 stalks of celery chopped
• 1.5 cups of soaked mung beans (you can substitute for lentils or split peas, all soaked for approx 20 mins) – though, if they are not soaked it’s fine you’ll just need to let cook for a little longer, just make sure you rinse them!
• 1-2 handfuls of washed, chopped kale, spinach or any other leafy green of your choice
• *If you don’t have some of the above vegetables on hand, or there are others you want to put in, do it. You won’t explode!
• 2-3 tbsp turmeric
• 1-2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2  tbsp fresh grated ginger (optional, I didn’t use it in this recipe but I often do!)
• 8 cups of water
• Cayenne pepper – sprinkle as hot as you’d like it!
• Himalayan or Sea salt – leave this ti the end, and add in as needed.

How I did it:

1. Over medium heat, add the coconut oil, onions and garlic into a large pot and simmer until onions are translucent.

2. Add in the carrots, celery, and any other vegetable with the exception of the leafy greens. We want to add these at the end so they don’t wilt, and so we can still keep as many of the nutrients in tact as possible!

3. Add in the spices and stir in for about a minute before you put the water in so the veggies an soak in all the spicy goodness. I would recommend leaving the salt until the very end. Often times recipes call for a certain about of salt, when in reality maybe we could have enjoyed the soup with a little less salt and given our blood pressure a little break. Add in the water, cover and let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

4. The soup is “done” when your crunchiest vegetable is soft. This could be your carrot, your bean/lentil. We want to make sure everything is nice and soft. Stir in the kale/spinach or BOTH if you’re getting really crazy. They will wilt fairly quickly.

5. Add approximately 1/2-3/4 of the soup to your high speed blender. Start on low, and slowly bring the soup to blend on high. Let this blend until it is the consistency you would like it to be! I like mine a little creamier so I let it run for longer, but you’re eating this, not me so you should make it the way you like it! Also, do yourself a favour and check just to make sure your blender is on the lowest setting – if you start it on high it will explode and you will have a big mess to clean up! Always looking out for my peeps.

6. Add this back into the big pot of soup, and stir around. You’ll have a beautiful combination of the smooth, creamy soup from the blender, and some of the chunks of veggies left over from the pot. If you’re feeling really wild you could even blend the whole soup and have one big puree. Serve on it’s own, or over a bed of organic brown rice.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Leave a comment and let me know how it went, I would love to hear what you think!