When I was a child, tomato soup was a luxury. It was a luxury because it was a flavour of soup that wasn’t made very often. So when I moved out of home and started cooking for myself, I realised I could cook anything I wanted. Moving out was the perfect opportunity to cook those recipes I missed out on as a child.
Moving out of home is also daunting, and even scary. It’s the end of an era and the start of a new one. When we start a new era, we have the opportunity to start new traditions. We can construct a new recipe folder full of all the foods we want to cook and eat. We can take old traditions from our childhood with us, and we can then mould them into our own. We can even choose to be vegan, if we aren’t already! It’s a time to embrace the unknown.
This is a vegan soup recipe for tomato, zucchini and roasted capsicum soup I have developed over the years, with a little inspiration from various recipes I’ve cooked as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and I hope it brings a little vegan luxury into your life during this time.
Ingredients:
4 to 6 fresh tomatoes
1 medium to large zucchini
2 large red capsicums
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
4 to 6 cups of vegetable stock
1 spring of rosemary removed from the stalk
1 small handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Remove the centre and stem of each capsicum to remove the stalk and seeds then slice the capsicum into generous portions. Place the potions on a lined baking tray and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven to roast for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Once baked, remove the capsicum from the oven and remove any charred skin.
Tip: If you’re in a rush, you can skip this step though roasted capsicum brings more flavour to the dish
Chop your tomatoes and zucchini into roughly 2 cm cubes. You don’t need to remove the tomato seeds or skin. You can leave the zucchini’s green skin on.
Heat some oil in a large soup pot over s medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion becomes translucent. Add the tomato paste and stir through until the tomato paste becomes fragrant.
Add all of the chopped tomato, zucchini, roasted capsicum, rosemary and season generously. Stir all vegetables together and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Pour in the stock and start with four cups. The vegetable stock should cover the vegetables so add more stock if needed. Put the lid on the pot and let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables have softened.
While the pot is simmering, finely chop the parsley.
Once the vegetables are soft, remove the pot from the stove and blend with a hand blender until the soup is smooth. Stir with a wooden spoon to ensure any lumps are blended through.
Add the chopped parsley and stir through evenly.
Tip: For added flavour, pour in about half to one cup of soy milk for a creamier finish
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with vegan bread.
