Friday 1 May 2015

Greens, rice and yoghurt soup for neglected greens


This is the soup I need in my life.  The list of ingredients reads like a list of green vegetables I buy with good intentions but too often find in a wilted soggy mess at the bottom of the fridge.  The soup tastes good and is healthy and will keep well in the fridge. 


The soup was far thinner than many that I make but was redeemed by adding brown rice and yoghurt.  The parsley taste was quite prominent but in a good way.  Which made me feel good about using it because it was given to me by the lovely Carmen after we had lunch at Pope Joan last week.


This soup will readily accommodate whatever leafy vegetables or herbs you have on hand.  It will work well with other seasonings, especially if you don't have tofu bacon marinade to use.

I didn't plan to blog it.  But it looked so pretty and was a fine accompaniment to a good book.  I had it for a quick lunch and loved eating it for dinner after swimming with a slice of freshly baked sourdough bread.

I am sending this soup to:

More green soups on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Asparagus, potato and quinoa soup (gf, v)
Broad bean, courgette and pea soup (gf, v) 
Cream of broccoli soup
Curried apple soup (gf)
Nettle and silverbeet soup (gf, v)
Pea and garlic soup (gf)
Potage St Germain (split pea and green pea soup) (gf, v)
Silverbeet, lentil, potato soup (gf, v)
Spring onion soup (gf)

Greens rice and yoghurt soup
Original recipe by Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 4-6

1 tsp rice bran oil
1 onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
4 cups vegetable stock
400g tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3-4 large silverbeet (chard) leaves. chopped
2-3 large curly green kale leaves, chopped
1 tbsp tofu bacon marinade
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
handful of cos lettuce leaves
handful of parsley
Seasoning
2-3 cups cooked brown rice
plain yoghurt (or cashew cream), to serve

Fry onion and celery in oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until vegetables brown and start to soften.  (Perhaps 5 - 10 minutes.  Celery seems to take longer to cook than onion.)  Add zucchini and garlic and fry another 5 minutes or until zucchini is starting to soften around the edges.  Add stock, beans, silverbeet, kale, tofu marinade and mustard.  Bring to boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Stir in lettuce and parsley until wilted.  Remove from heat and blend until smooth (I used a hand held blender.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.  To serve, stir in about 1/2 cup brown rice and a good spoonful of yoghurt to each bowl.

On the Stereo:
Bleecker and McDougal: Fred Neil

24 comments:

  1. A tasty way to use up those stragglers in the fridge. I love adding grains to soups too.

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    1. Thanks Emma - adding grains is a great way to have a one bowl dinner - especially when there are leftovers about

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  2. Yes, this is a soup that I would just love and especially when served with a big crusty loaf of bread too! THANKS adding it to Cooking with Herbs! Karen

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    1. Thanks Karen - the bread is just the icing on the cake, so to speak!

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  3. What a bowl of goodness! A complete meal in a pretty green bowl.

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  4. What perfect use of seasonal produce! This green soup looks so healthy and delicious.

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    1. Thalia - yes actually quite a few of the leaves were from farmers markets

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  5. I love rice in soup but tend to forget to add it. This sounds very healthy and a great way to use up those veggies that are rapidly wilting and need to be pepped up!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I have been making bigger batches of rice lately which means I have some over for other dishes and it makes dinner a lot quicker.

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  6. Oh I always seem to have some greens leftover and I hate having to throw them away. A great idea here Johanna!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - greens seem more fragile than a lot of vegies and turn to mush so easily if neglected :-)

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  7. It's definitely soup season with this drab weather. And soup is a great excuse for using up all the leftover vegetables in our fridges. I have also used rice and sometimes pasta to thicken a soup xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - I eat soup in any season but it is so comforting on a dark and wet night - and great for clearing out the fridge. I haven't had pasta in soup for a while - must do that soon.

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  8. Such a pretty soup! It's so vibrant =) I love all of the veggies in it and especially love the sound of the beans and rice.

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - if I can get vegies, legumes and grains into a soup then than is dinner sorted, and often the next night's dinner too

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  9. gorgeous and love the addition of the smoky tofu too - this would work really well - yum :)

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    1. Thanks De Tout Coeur Limousin - I only had tofu bacon marinade but fried facon bits on top would have been great if I had them.

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  10. Thanks for linking up with #creditcrunchmunch. I too suffer from the neglected greens you find at the bottom of the fridge, so next time I dig some out they will now go into a tasty soup. Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Thanks Lucy - I found a recipe for a lettuce soup a year or two ago and loved how it saved the lettuce that would have been thrown out otherwise - so I was really pleased to use that idea to use some old lettuce in this soup

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  11. A lovely idea for a soup and I love that it used up a lot of the extra vegetables at the bottom of the fridge.

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  12. What a fabulous and unusal soup, I'm always looking for recipes to use up some lettuce:-) Thanks for entering #CreditCrunchMunch:-)

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  13. Such a lovely way to use up greens nearing the end of their shelf life. Thanks so much for sharing with NCR. Your contributions are always appreciated.

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  14. I love recipes for "fridge bottomy" veggies - this seems an excellent way to rescue them. Thank you for linking up to #creditcunchmunch

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