Supreme Vegan Soups

Contents

• Middle Eastern Spinach Soup [1]
• Autumn Fruit Soup/Puree [2]

[1] Middle Eastern Spinach Soup

 /from Still Life With Menu/

 I hate
 Spinach,
 But in this
 Smooth and Spicy
 Soup
 Its Presence
 Is Unnoticed
 Its deliciousness
 Is 
 Undeniable

 1-2 medium-sized potatoes, or 3 cups cooked white rice
 2 C water
 2 T olive or canola oil
 2 cloves garlic, crushed
 2-4 C chopped onions
 2 t salt
 1 t ground cumin
 ½ t turmeric
 a pinch of cinnamon
 2 lbs. fresh spinach, cleaned, stemmed & chopped (or two defrosted   10-oz
packages of chopped frozen spinach)

 With potatoes:

 1. Peel and dice the potatoes, and cook potatoes in water, covered, until
tender. (This should take about 10 to 15 minutes.) Set aside, water
included.
 2. Heat the butter in a Dutch oven or kettle, and saute garlic and  onion
over medium heat along with the salt and spices until tender. (8 to 10
minutes.) Stir frequently, or it will burn.
 3. Add cooked potatoes with their water, and spinach. Cover and simmer
another 10 to 15 minutes. At this point the soup can be left as is, or
partially or completely pureed. Use a blender or food processor. 
 4. the soup is fine as is, but is particularly toothsome with a bit of
yogurt on top.

 With rice:

 1. put 2 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in 1 cup
uncooked white rice. Lower heat to the gentlest possible simmer, cover, and
cook about 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is
tender. Set aside.
 2. Saute onions and garlic with spices exactly as in step 2 aboe.
 3. Add spinach and 2 cups water. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
 4. As in the instructions above, all or some of the soup can be pureed.
Stir in the rice and yogurt after pureeing.
 5. Heat very gently before serving. This variation actually tastes best
neither hot nor cold, but somewhere in between.
 --Rosemary

[2] Autumn Fruit Soup

 from Laurel's Kitchen

 Delicate
 Ethereal
 Pale
 Almost-
 Nectar
 Soup

 1 lb ripe cooking apples and/or pears
 1 quart water
 strips of peel from ¼ lemon and ¼ orange
 1 T cornstarch
 ¼ C cold water
 3 T honey
 ¼ t ground cardamom
 ½ t orange zest
 2 T lemon juice
 juice from one orange

 This is best to make in early autumn, when apples and pears are in  season
and cheap. It is delicate and light--almost a dessert.
 1. Core apples and pears and cut them into chunks Place in a pan with quart
of water. 
 2.  Use a carrot peeler to take a strip from the orange and lemon peel; use
a zester or fine grater (if you have one) to take zest from the rest of the
orange, making ½ teaspoon. Juice the orange and lemon and combine the orange
zest and juices, setting them aside. 
 3. Add the strips of orange and lemon peel to the cooking soup and bring to
a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the fruit is soft.
 4.  Blend the soup, or put it through a food mill or strainer. (Blending is
much easier!)
 5. Mix the cornstarch with ¼ cup cold water and stir it into the puree. Add
honey and cardamom.
 6. Return soup to clean pan, bring to a boil again, then lower heat and
simmer for five minutes, stirring frequently. 
 7. Allow it to cool slightly, then add grated orange rind, lemon and orange
juice. The soup is good either hot or cold. If you are not vegan and you
want you can put in a dab of yogurt.

 Makes about 5 cups.
 --Rosemary
 
 

[3] Pumpkin Curry Soup by Aredridel eirself

• 1 small pumpkin, cut into ¾-inch chunks
• 1 can diced tomatos, with juice
• 1 small can of diced green chiles
• Curry spices

Steam the pumpkin until soft, then add 4 cups of water, the canned ingredients and the spices. Heat until warm and serve.

For the spices, I used a premixed Channa Masala mix from india, but you can make your own with a touch of cayenne, some cumin, some turmeric, some cardamon, and some black pepper. How much you put in is a matter of taste, but I bet it'd take a lot to make as firey as I made this soup... I was warm, walking in sub-freezing weather after dark in mid-winter and sweating.