Soup's On!

Please click on the picture to see that February is Soup Month. And you can play too. This is my contribution!

This is a recipe that we just tried for Larry's birthday. It's pretty mild, so the children ate it. The people who like it hotter just added a little Tabasco.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it (at least there were no audible complaints!) Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Crazy Vegetarian Chili

Initial Sauté:
2 large onions
2 medium carrots
3 stalks celery
1 tsp each of dried basil and dried oregano
1 bay leaf

4 cups mixed beans, eg kidney, pinto, black, adzuki
3 1/4 cups canned chopped tomatoes

Spices:
1 tbsp mild chili powder
2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp Hungarian paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
1-2 green chilies, heat to taste (optional)
1 qt vegetable stock
hot pepper sauce to taste (optional)

Seasonings:
1 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar
6 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
Sweetener of choice, to taste (optional)

Vegetables:
2 (sweet bell) peppers, of different colors if possible
2 medium zucchini
8-15 cloves garlic
2 cups canned sweet corn, or equivalent frozen unthawed

Chop the onions, carrots and celery into small dice. Sauté them in a large pan, either in vegetable stock, or using sunflower oil if you prefer, for 5 minutes. Add the basil, oregano and bay leaf, and cook, stirring. Add the drained beans, and the undrained tomatoes. Mix in the spices along with vegetable stock. Simmer for 40 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the seasonings. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, then taste and sweeten with sugar, maple syrup, or anything else, if you think it needs it. Now simmer for a long time - about 2 hours more perhaps. While this is happening, prepare the vegetables - chop the (sweet bell) peppers; quarter the zucchini lengthways and slice; finely chop or crush the garlic; and drain the sweet corn if using canned. Don't thaw frozen sweet corn yet though. Add the peppers and zucchini about 40 minutes before you're going to stop cooking it, and the garlic and frozen sweet corn about 10 minutes before the end. Don't add canned sweet corn until you're about to serve or freeze, then just give it enough time to heat through.