Soup may just be the greatest food on Earth. You can add your favourite ingredients, take out the ones you don’t like, experiment at very little cost, and share it with others. It is healthy, comforting, and satisfying. There are hot soups for when you’re cold, and chilled soups to lift a hot summer’s day. And like all the world’s greatest foods (the other one being ice cream), you don’t have to chew it.
We’ve all heard the old story about ‘stone soup’. A stranger comes to town and promises he can make a great soup for everyone – including himself – if they’ll just give him a stone and a pot of water. He starts to cook the stone, tastes the soup, and says – ‘hm, just needs a little salt’. The townspeople bring him the salt, and five minutes later he just needs a little more pepper, and a little carrot, and a little meat… finally the stone soup tastes delicious.
This is the wonder of soup.
So while of course you can pick up ready-made soups from the supermarket, there’s nothing quite like making your own. The advantages are manifold. For one thing, it’s a brilliant way to get the joy of cooking with almost guaranteed good results – no matter how bad a cook you are. For another, leaving soup in the pot for hours or days after you cook it, only makes it better. Also, if you change at least one ingredient from the recipe you’re following, you’re fully entitled to rename the soup after yourself!
Let’s have a look, then, at some of the basic soups to get you started. Don’t forget you can leave out or switch up any ingredients that you’re not keen on. And as with almost any recipe, you can double the stated amount of herbs and spices if you want a taste explosion.
Tomato soup is an absolute classic, and if you think it sounds boring it’s just because you haven’t experimented with it yet. In fact, there are far more than just tomatoes in tomato soup. A good tomato soup starts with a fry-up of garlic, onion, and grated carrot, to which you can add your favourite herbs to give this base a tang. Add a couple of tins of plum tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes if you don’t have a blender) and let the whole thing simmer. Why not add some more herbs at this stage?
Next comes the vegetable stock, which you mix with hot water to get the liquid base. Throw the whole lot in together and let it simmer for ten minutes or more. Finally, you can season it with salt and pepper and fresh basil. Check the taste, add more flavours if needed (chilli powder, tabasco, and soy sauce can all give it more of a kick). If you have a blender, now is the time to use it.
That was easy. And it’s super healthy for you, too. It’s packed with vitamin K and calcium, which will strengthen your bones and fight osteoporosis. Seriously, eat it a couple of times a week if bones are an issue for you. Tomato soup is also great for your circulatory system, strengthening your arteries and reducing fatty deposits, bad cholesterol, and the chance of blockages.
Perhaps you’re ready for something a bit more exotic. Well, do you remember how your mother always told you that chicken soup will pick you up when you have a cold or flu? Those healthy chicken soups could always feel a little… serious, but try making the leap to an Asian chicken noodle soup and you’ll never look back!
The simple secret about Asian food is that it uses all the best ingredients. The most startling vegetables. The spiciest, freshest herbs. And noodles, which speak for themselves. With chicken noodle soup, the stock comes first – and while you could settle for regular chicken or vegetable stock, a Miso soup mix will get you off to a more exciting start. Add plenty of chopped ginger and garlic while it simmers, and some boneless chicken breast which you will remove and shred once it’s tender.
Once the shredded, bite-sized chicken has been returned to the pot, it’s time to add the noodles, sweetcorn, sliced mushrooms, one shredded spring onion, and soy sauce to taste. Heck, you can add what you like, but this is the most delicate version. Simmer the lot until the noodles are tender, then serve into bowls and garnish with more shredded onion, mint, and soy sauce. This is another perfect moment to take it to the next level with your favourite Asian ingredients: sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, lime juice, all can add a new dimension to this exotic yet heart soup.
This new infographic from PoundPlace is the perfect place to start rekindling your love affair with soup. Nine classic and less familiar soups are broken down into their constituent ingredients so you can see just what goes in and choose where to start. It also comes with a simple 6-step guide on how to make any soup. So no more excuses, it’s time to get into the kitchen and start preparing the greatest food on Earth!
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