Minestrone Soup: Raw, Vegan … and Hearty!
Many cooks find themselves a little out of sorts when they need to whip up a recipe that’s vegan or raw. Heck, once upon a time, I found those terms intimidating, too. But then, I found a couple of recipes that I loved (and others did, too), and suddenly, it didn’t seem like such a huge deal!
Because raw and vegan recipes typically rely heavily on the delicious flavors of fresh vegetables, there can be a good bit of prep involved, but if you plan ahead just a smidge, that doesn’t need to be such a big deal. Put on your favorite tunes (or an audio book — that’s my new favorite way to pass time in the kitchen!) and enjoy. So, don’t be put off by the total time listed on this hearty vegan minestrone soup recipe from raw food expert Leah Putnam — yes, it’ll take more than two hours in its entirety, but that includes a full hour of inactive time.
Check out the recipe and get some great raw food tips in the video below from Grokker (remember, we’re affiliates for them!), and you can read through all the details below that. Happy soup making!
- Vegetables Marinade
- ¼ cup minced parsley
- ½ cup crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, diced
- ½ cup green beans, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup broccoli, cut into small florets
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- ½ sprouted garbanzo beans
- Marinade
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp mellow white miso
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Soup Stock
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in ¾ cup water for 1 hour
- 4 tomatoes, seeded and diced (4 cups total; reserve seeds and juice)
- Dash fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- Sea salt to taste
- Onion:
- ½ cup diced onion
- Purified water, for rinsing
- Garbanzo Beans: Soak in water over night rinse for 2 days, twice a day in morning and night. Once you see a quarter if an inch of sprout it is ready.
- Vegetable Marinade: Mix all the chopped vegetable in to a bowl. To remove the strong flavor from the onions, place them in a strainer and rinse them several times in non-chlorinated water, squeezing them gently, and rinsing them with fresh water each time. Put it aside
- Marinade: Put the orange juice, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, onion powder, and miso in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add this marinade to the vegetables and toss well to combine. Place this mixture in a glass gallon jar or casserole dish and place it in the dehydrator set at 115°F for one hour, to soften.
- Soup Stock: Add your chopped tomatoes to a bowl. To add your reserved tomato seed, core out the tomato, cut it in half, and spoon out the seeds and put them in a cylinder. Chop the rest of the tomato and add them to the soup stock. Add in your dried Oregano and dried Basil.
- Grab your strainer (juice bag) add in your reserved tomato seeds and strain all the juice into the soup stock. Thinly slice the soaked sun-dried raisins and add it to the soup stock. Mix them up.
- Add your warm marinaded vegetables in to the soup stock and mix.
Do you have any go-to vegan or raw recipes? Feel free to share in the comments! —Kristen