Carrot & Bean Soup

It is now more important than ever to eliminate food wastage and I’ve tried to do just that with this soup. I saved stock from making carrot curry and from cooking kidney beans and used it in this soup instead of water. It definitely upped the flavor of the soup. This soup has a hint of sweetness because of the carrots and is quite hearty with the addition of beans and pasta. You could easily add other vegetables and greens to make variations of this soup. Enjoy it warm with some grated parmesan cheese and bread on the side!

Recipe

Prep Time: 10 mins (excluding time to pre-soak and cook kidney beans)
Cook Time: 35 to 40 mins
Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients –
– 2 tsps extra virgin olive oil
– 3 cloves minced garlic
– 1/4th cup chopped onions
– 3/4th cup diced carrots
– 1n1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning mix
– 1n1/4th teaspoon paprika
– 3 to 4 cups vegetable stock or water (I used stock from cooking carrots and kidney beans)
– 1/2 cup un-cooked elbow pasta
– 3/4th cup spinach
– 1 cup cooked pre-soaked kidney beans
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 1n1/2 teaspoon salt or adjust to taste
– parmesan cheese for garnish

Prep –
– I pre-soaked kidney beans for 6 to 8 hrs and then cooked it until tender.

Instructions –
1. In a sauce or soup pan, heat a couple of tsps of olive oil. Add minced garlic and chopped onions to it. Saute for a few mins until the onions are translucent.
2. Add chopped carrots, Italian seasoning and paprika. Saute for a few mins until the carrots are slightly tender.
3. Add stock or water. Bring it to a boil and add pasta. Once, the pasta is tender add spinach, kidney beans, black pepper and salt. Simmer for 6 to 8 mins. Taste it and adjust salt if needed.

Serve it warm topped with some parmesan cheese. We savored it alongside some garlic bread!