We ‘ve all grown up with chicken soup as a comfort food especially when we’re feeling under the weather. But in reality, what really helps us from chicken soup with our cold is not the chicken, but the hydration from the water and the vitamins and antioxidants from the vegetables we add, which are rich in fiber and beneficial for gut microbiome and immune system. So why not keep the good part of the soup, eliminating animal protein and making a delicious vegan alternative?
This soup with red beans and pumpkin has many different plant foods, combining protein from beans, vitamins and probiotics from soy sauce and of course lots of healthy fiber.
You’ll need
4-5 cups of vegetable broth
4-5 cups pumpkin cut in cubes
2 ½ cups cooked red beans (or whatever beans you have left)
3-4 garlic cloves chopped (always wait 10-15 minutes before you heat them)
1 chopped onion
1 chopped red pepper
1 potato or sweet potato for extra probiotics, cut in cubes
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup corn
3 cups of red tomato sauce you have left from your pasta
a pinch of oregano
Method
In a large pan add the olive oil and the soy sauce in medium heat. Add the onion, the garlic and the pepper and sautée until the onions and the rest of the vegetables become softer. Then you can add your broth, the cut potato or sweet potato and the pumpkin (if you want, you can use readymade pumpkin from the super market), along with your red sauce and the oregano.
Cover the pan and boil in low heat until your pumpkin gets softer (you’ll know when it’s ok if you can press a fork in it), for about 20 minutes. Add your beans and corn and cook for another 10 minutes. If your beans are not already cooked you must soak them overnight, add them at the point you add your vegetable broth and cook for an hour. Add salt to taste and serve while it’s hot and delicious!
Soup with red beans and pumpkin: the best answer to chicken soup
