Soup Archives - Spiced Up By Bilal

During the winter months, I enjoy warm, hearty meals with a bit of a kick to fight off those lazy days and over-eager bugs! The Spicy Winter Soup with chicken proved very popular among my family and friends, however, being vegetarian this month meant that I would be getting my protein source from elsewhere! Cue, pulses, in the form of beans, the tinned variety!

Beans are hearty, full of vitamins and minerals, and loaded with protein! Tinned or dried, we have been eating them in various meals for years in our household! If you want to have this as a chilli con carne type meal or increase the protein content, simply reduce the water and add in mincemeat, Quorn or tofu.

I had a busy day and was hungry so had my soup with German rye bread, which is naturally love in gluten and heavy! Two slices do me every time! You can have your soup with whatever you wish! You can even serve it with rice, quinoa or any other carb staple, just remember to not add 1 litre of water, unless you want a sloppy mess!

This recipe is meat free, gluten free, and dairy free, but highly nutritious and delicious, even if I do say so myself!

INGREDIENTS

Four Bean Supreme Soup

1 red onion

1 onion

3 spring onions

4 cloves garlic

1 cm ginger

½ red chilli

½ green chilli

½ red pepper

½ green pepper

½ teaspoon dried coriander

1 tin chopped tomatoes

¼ tin red kidney beans

1 tin mixed beans (containing Adzuki, Cannellini and Haricot beans, you can use any mix you like)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons coconut oil

1 litre filtered water, boiled

RECIPE

Four Bean Supreme Soup

In a large saucepan, melt 2 teaspoons coconut oil, and add in sliced and diced red, normal and spring onions (keep the green leaves until the end), crushed garlic, chopped ginger and turmeric, and sauté until golden brown, cooking on 3/4 heat;
Add in 1 tin chopped tomatoes, dried coriander, ½ teaspoon salt, and cook until the water evaporates for an infused and blended taste. I added in the chillies at this step because I wanted a spicier soup;
Add in the chopped peppers and beans, mix gently and add in the boiling water;
Cover and leave to cook for around 10 minutes on ¼ heat, stirring occasionally and to check the ingredients are done as you like them;
Your Four Bean Soupreme is served! (If you wish, garnish with fresh coriander, parsley, basil or even mint!).

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Eating time: 15 minutes

Serves 2-4 people

Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂

During the winter months, we are particularly prone to picking up colds and chest infections. For me, winter is THE season to ensure my diet is nutrient rich to help stave off those nasty bacteria and viruses! To do this, keeping warm is absolutely essential, and there is nothing better at raising the body temperature than a hot’n’spicy winter soup!

Soups are a great way of getting vitamins and minerals quickly into your body. The nutrients from the plethora of ingredients seep into the water which packs a powerful nutritional punch!

So, onto my Spicy Winter Soup for up to 4 people!

I have some favourite ingredients which you will see over and over again in my main dishes and those are onions, red onions, spring onions, garlic, ginger and of course chilli! Give me those ingredients, and depending on the order in which I use them, I can cook you an Indian, Italian or Turkish dish!

INGREDIENTS

1 onion

1 red onion

3 spring onions

4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic in my food)

1 cm of ginger

1 large tomato or 6 cherry tomatoes

1 red chilli

1 green chilli

1 long red pepper

1 long green pepper

1 Parsnip

1 Leek

1 Sweet Potato

1 Carrot

1 Chicken Breast

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 litre of filtered and boiled water

INSTRUCTIONS

In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil (put the water on to boil in a kettle);
Slice and dice the onions (hold back the green leaves of the spring onions until the end), garlic (I cut the garlic knobs up, press them in a garlic crusher and add them directly into the saucepan) and ginger and add to the saucepan to sauté. Stir regularly until the mix starts to bronze;
Chop in the tomato(es) and cook until they soften;
Cut the chicken breast into cubes, add to the saucepan and cook (and stir!) until all raw bits disappear;
Chop in the parsnip, leek, sweet potato and carrot and add them to the boiling water for 5 minutes;
Chop in the chillies and peppers (if you want your soup spicier, add the chillies with the boiling water);
Taste the soup and add salt and pepper according to your preference;
Cover with the lid and leave the soup to simmer on a medium heat for around 10 minutes;
Add the chopped spring onion leaves and cover for 5 minutes;
Feel free to add any coriander to garnish and you are ready to !