Vegetable soup recipe

Vegetable soup recipe – This easy, healthy & delicious Chinese vegetable soup is super quick to make. It just takes about 20 mins from start to finish to make a large pot of this flavorful and hearty soup. I have shared a basic recipe here. Flavor it & spice it up the way you like! Vegetable soup can be made with any veggies of your choice. The taste & flavor of the soup depends on the vegetables & spices used. So make the right choice!

Most times I make soups to use up the excess veggies or when someone at home is suffering from cold and congestion. Last weekend we craved for a Indo Chinese dinner. So I got to make this mix veg soup & vegetable noodles.

I was left with so many chopped veggies after making the soup which I used to make Chinese pakora. There was some bottled homemade schezwan sauce in the fridge which went well with these.

The combination of Vegetable soup, Chinese pakora with schezwan sauce and noodles was so good that I thought of sharing the recipes here.

About vegetable soup

Vegetable soup is a simple soup made with various vegetables, leafy greens, herbs and sometimes spices. It is made in various cultures and cuisines across the world. So you will find numerous ways to make it but the one ingredient you will always find in all of these is the vegetables.

Some recipes use spices to flavor the vegetable soup. The recipe I have shared in this post is much more commonly served in the Indian Chinese restaurants. This is light on the stomach yet so nourishing and filling that makes a great appetizer.

This vegetable soup uses veggies like carrots, peas, sweet corn, green beans and cabbage. It is flavored with ginger, garlic, spring onions, ground black pepper and red chilli flakes.

If Indo Chinese cuisine is not your thing then just serve this soup with some sandwiches or cheese toast.

More Soup recipes
Tomato Soup
Manchow soup
Clear soup
Sweet corn soup
Mushroom Soup

How to make vegetable soup (stepwise photos)

1. Rinse all the vegetables under running water and chop them finely. Make sure all the veggies are of the same size otherwise one turns mushy and the other underdone.

2. Chop ginger and garlic as well.

3. Heat oil in a pot. Saute ginger, garlic and spring onion greens for a minute or 2. If using bay leaf and cinnamon you can add them here first.

4. Add all the veggies.

5. Then add in cabbage or any other leafy greens.

6. Fry all of them on a high flame for 2 to 3 mins to bring out aroma.

7. Pour water or stock. I used water here.

8. Cover and cook until slightly tender.

9. Meanwhile in a separate bowl stir in cornstarch or arrow root powder with half cup water. Ensure it is lump free.

If using boiled potato, add it to a blender jar and pour half cup water. Puree to a smooth paste. I usually add 2 cups of water to the pot and then 1 cup for potato puree.

10. When the veggies turn slightly tender, pour the corn starch to the boiling vegetable soup. Stir continuously and cook until it turns slightly thick.

11. Add salt and sugar (optional).

12. Add then crushed pepper. You can also add white pepper.

13. Turn off when the soup turns slightly thick. It thickens further after cooling. Very thick soup tastes starchy so do not thicken it a lot. The soup must be free flowing and not very thick.

I prefer to add apple cider vinegar when the soup cools down a bit. Taste the soup and add more salt if desired.

14. Add red chili flakes and more spring onion greens.

Serve Chinese vegetable soup hot or warm.

Pro Tips

1. Veggies: The key to a good veg soup is the combination & the quantity of veggies used. The quantities given below goes well for our taste.
2. Spices: 1 Bay leaf, half inch piece real cinnamon, pepper, red chili flakes & allspice are the spices that go well in this soup.
3. Thickener : This recipe uses flour to thicken the soup. You can use oats powder, barley powder, corn starch or arrowroot powder. However flour can be replaced with 1 medium boiled potato. (details in the recipe card notes).
4. Ginger is optional. If you have young kids, you may skip or use it grated.
5. Vinegar or lemon juice & ginger are great for sore throat, detox and even congestion. You can also skip them if you don’t like the flavors.

What vegetables can I put in the soup?

I generally use cabbage, carrots, beans, spring onions, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, Indian spinach (palak), peas & sweet corn.

Apart from the veggies mentioned in the recipe you can also add about
half cup Indian palak or baby spinach (loosely measured then chopped)
2 to 3 fined chopped mushrooms
half cup broccoli or cauliflower
replace cabbage with bok choy

You can pour 1 cup more water for every addition of veggies.

Healthy variations

Skip the flour or starch for all these variations. These are healthy versions of the same recipe which I make for my family.

1. Noodle vegetable soup: I add about 1 serving organic dry noodles once the water comes to a boil. The noodles cook up and thicken the soup. You will need 1 cup more water.
2. Curried vegetable soup: Just add in the desired amount of curry powder. I have tried this with pav bhaji masala and it tastes great.
3. Quinoa vegetable soup: I add about 4 tbsps quinoa to the same recipe. Just add them after the veggies are half done.
4. Chicken vegetable soup: You can add about half cup cooked or grilled and shredded chicken. I usually saute the bone-in chicken in a tsp of oil until pale and then cook in water until tender. Then lastly I make the vegetable soup and pour the chicken stock to it. I shred the chicken and add it. It tastes yum.

I also have a similar recipe of chicken soup here.

I have doubled the recipe so you will find the quantities more than mentioned in the recipe.

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