Try Turkish wedding soup - recipes are everywhere on the Internet, but this one is fairly typical, and is completely vegan. It’s better with a bit of dried mint thrown in toward the end of cooking IMHO.
Most soups are either broth-based or milk-based. The liquid has got to come from somewhere. You can get soup base (ham base, beef base, veg base, etc.) to which you add water to make a broth. There are many bean soup recipes that don’t use broth but they tend to be bland if you just use water and don’t boil up any meat with the beans.
I make a couple of soups that use stewed tomatoes instead of a broth. But for the most part, broth is *the *way to start a soup.
A favorite of mine: Barley-Lentil soup with Swiss Chard. Very low fat and high fiber. I tend to reduce the chard a little as it can be a bit overwhelming. Also I increase the carrots and onions by 1/3, and double the tomatoes, and reduce the broth slightly.
So for a single recipe, the amounts would be:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped peeled carrots
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
8 cups (or more) low-salt chicken or vegetable broth
2/3 cup pearl barley
1 29-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2/3 cup dried lentils
Oooh - and if you’re making a poultry stock from scratch, I’ve taken to adding whole cloves and whole allspice, as well as peppercorns and bay leaves, when simmering the carcass. This was inspired by the brining recipe I use - soup made from a brined turkey using that recipe (which includes those spices) is the best ever.
If it’s making the broth that’s an issue, every grocery store stocks all kinds of broth/stock. I usually have a litre of low-sodium chicken broth on hand in my cupboard.
I keep a LOT of these on hand, and I use a couple in almost every soup I make…even if I use my own broth or stock, these add flavor and body.
http://www.letsmakeknorr.com/Products/2246/Chicken-flavor.aspx
I stock up (heh) when they go on sale and I have coupons.
Mama Zappa, I’m going to have to try making that lentil soup. I love lentil soup and that one reads delicious.
I have a hankerin’ for cabbage soup. I get these weird cruciferous veg needing, and physical pangs. Anybody got a recipe for a good cabbage soup? I have sauerkraut and a really good plain Ohio, Hickory smoked, Ma Wilson, Smoked Pork Sausage Link. I can probably afford a head of cabbage and some carrots and Herbs, maybe some beef soup bones.
I could probably also make some pigs in the blanket soup… A head of cabbage, sauerkraut, bacon, some onions, garlic, the Ohio smoked sausage, some bob evans fresh sausage, some ground beef, rice, beef broth, and tomatoe juice… maybe some Hungarian paprika.
Mmmmmm. Cabbage soup! I just sort of accidently made a pot of spicy lentil vegetable soup. It started out really simple but one thing led to another and there ya go.
Actually I think it might be split peas instead of lentils–I had an unmarked bag from the food pantry and they are awfully big and…non-mealy for lentils. Can split peas be yellow?
This thread inspired me and I just made a huge vat of Broccoli and cheese soup. I love making soup in huge batches and freezing so I can have a variety available on a whim.
In honor of devilsknew, Ijust added some cabbage to my Accidental Soup!
Soup does not require a stock. You can add some base or bullion if you wish. Just use water in place of stock in a recipe. it will not be the same the same but you can still make a great soup without. It is fun to sometimes make a soup requiring specific shopping and expense but just going with what is on hand, adjusting, adding, omitting and simmering as you go is the nature of soup.
That being said. Stock is what makes a soup sublime. Making a large batch and freezing in portions is worth your while. Stock use useful in many kitchen applications aside from soup and can be used in place of water in many/most recipes with great effect.
I developed an aversion to making soup after working in kitchens for some many years. I am sot exactly sure why but I am over it now and it has become one of my favorites again.
mmm…soup is good food.
Yes indeed. They can even be purple, but the purple ones are much harder to find. You can get them in some parts of the U.K.
Our family has a traditional “Pig Soup” handed down by our mother which is extremely simple but I dearly love it. She probably invented it to make the pork chops go further in hard times for our large family. Dice and brown pork, add water, potatoes, peas and salt and pepper and a handful of allspice. That’s it. So simple and so good. Try it before you knock it!