Nordic Ministrone soup
Minimize your kitchen time and maximize flavour this summer with a one pot Minestrone soup. This soup is perfect for using up the leftover vegetables and a complete meal when you want to eat light. Make this on days when you feel lazy to cook and want to fix something quick and easy.
A few days back my husband got a small carton of veggies along with a recipe to cook them. He told me there was a campaign in his work place to promote organic vegetarian eating. Since the recipe read Nordic Minestrone soup, something that I had never heard of, I couldn't wait to try it. The added bonus was to be introduced to rye cereal that I have never come across in India.
Rye looks almost like wheat in a natural form, once cooked it almost looks and tastes like brown rice. The soup has a very distinct flavour, which is very hard to explain and it is partly because of the parsnips and fennel. You will either love it or hate it to the core! If you want to be on the safe side, avoid parsnips altogether.
Here is the recipe I followed.
What you’ll need :
1 large potato 2 cloves of garlic 2 large parsnips 1 large carrot 1/2 bulb fennel (optional) 1 stick leek 1 medium sized onion 50 gms of rye cereal 2 fresh bay leaves 3-4 sprigs of thyme 2 heaped tbsp butter 1/2 tsp vegetable oil 1 tsp crushed pepper 1 tsp sugar Salt as per taste Parsley
How to :
Peel the onions and keep the remaining vegetables ready. Finely chop the onions and coarsely cut rest of the vegetables. Chop the vegetables into different sizes so that you find pleasure in variations of what you eat.
In a large pot, sauté the onions, garlic, bay leaves and half of the thyme springs in butter and vegetable oil. Now add the rye pearls and sauté for another minute. Next add the rest of the vegetables and sauté for around 5 minutes. When the vegetables get a little colour, add 1.5 litres of water and allow the liquid to boil. At this point add the rest of thyme, sugar and pepper and allow the soup to cook for half an hour until the rye is cooked.
The soup is not very spicy and can be enjoyed as a whole meal as it has grains and vegetables. Before serving the soup, garnish with some parsley.
