Day 8 - Rainbow Bean Soup

A pretty picture of some of the vegetables.

Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables are considered healthy because their colours are complex compounds of chemicals which are good for the body. The simplest way to ensure you are getting the full range of these useful components is choose vegetables in a variety of colours.

I give you Rainbow Bean soup.

Use the type of beans you prefer. I used pinto beans but red, black or navy beans would all work as long as they are really properly cooked and not at all crunchy when they are added to the soup ingredients.

Panch phoran is a Bengali spice mix comprising mustard seed, cumin seed, fenugreek seed, fennel seed, and "black onion seed" which is actually no relation to onions but the seed of Nigella sativa. If you don't have it substitute what you will from what you have.

Makes plenty for four.

300g approx cooked pinto beans (cook your own from dry or open a tin)

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and chopped finely
1 medium (2 small) orange fleshed sweet potato, peeled and chopped.
1 yellow pepper, cleaned and chopped into small cubes
2 stalks of celery, cleaned and chopped
1 small beetroot, peeled and chopped
6 or so button mushrooms, chopped
10 kalamata olives, stones removed and chopped
400g tinned chopped tomatoes with juice
1 dry red chilli
1 tbsp. dried basil
2 tsp. panch phoran
1 tsp. salt reduced vegan stock powder

Lime wedges and gomashio to serve.

Soak for 8 hours and cook your dried beans in a pressure cooker on high for 20 minutes, or open one or two cans and drain and rinse the beans.

Fry all the prepared vegetables except the tomatoes in the oil until they are warm and start to soften, add the beans, herbs, spices and stock powder, the tomatoes with their juice and enough hot water to cover everything comfortably.

Cover the pot and simmer for 30-40 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Serve in big bowls with a squeeze of lime juice and gomashio to taste.