Cabbage, Broad Bean and Caraway Soup

You'll be seeing a lot of cabbage recipes from us this month - mostly because many of the savoury vegan-friendly Croatian recipes we found were of the cabbage variety (although this recipe itself is not Croatian - I just invented it to use up a big bit of cabbage left on my fridge from my Croatian cooking). However, that isn't a bad thing at all because I think that this is the first cabbage recipe we have posted on this blog, so in essence we are filling a void. 

Unfortunately cabbage gets a very bad reputation amongst most people because of bad experiences with bad boiled cabbage and because of it's ability to cause gas. However - you shouldn't fear either of these because a) cabbage cooked properly is delicious and b) there are several carminative herbs and spices you can add in the cooking process to reduce this. This recipe uses caraway seeds as the carminative agent, however, I have read that cumin, sage, tarragon, fennel, thyme, aniseed, marjoram, basil, bergamot, chamomile, nutmeg, dill, cloves, garlic, coriander, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, juniper, rosemary, savory, oregano, mint or peppermint can also be used - although I haven't tried all of these so give me feedback if you do :) So, take this knowledge in hand and fear no more about cabbage - now you possess the knowledge to go bravely (without splitting your infinitives!) where no cabbageophobe has even gone before... cabbage soup!

However, even if that doens't convince you to stop worrying about cabbage giving you gas then you can take even further precautions by ending or starting any meal that contains cabbage with our delicious Cabbage-Is-My-Friend Tea which will take care of any worries you have in that area so that you can happily enjoy cabbage as frequently as you like!

Ingredients

1 onion, slices

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 green cabbage (or more of you have it), finely sliced

1 generous tsp caraway seeds

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp smoky paprika

2 potatoes, washed, peeled and thinly sliced

1L vegetable stock

1 cup fresh or frozen broad beans

1 tbsp soy sauce (or substitute salt to taste)

To Make:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot and sauté the onion until soft. Add the cabbage and continue to sauté another 3-5 mins.

2. Add the spices and mix thorough well. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes and broad beans and bring to the boil.

3. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Add soy sauce and any other seasonings to taste.

4. When all vegetables are cooked well turn off the heat and allow to cool for a little while before blending it until very smooth in a blender or food processor (or with a hand held stick blender if you prefer a chunkier texture). 

5. Serve with some whole caraway sprinkled on top.

Serves 4, and perfect as a snack in a mug

This is also part of the Great Vegan Soup-Off Blog Hop- check out the other entries below!