Vegan Cooking Tips

Soup meals are comforting and convenient meals. One way to ensure that there can always be soup on the table is to make a basic soup to use as a base for other types of soup.

For example, create a basic vegan vegetable soup. Use your broth or stock of choice, add diced or chopped seasonal or frozen veggies, allow to simmer, and you have a basic soup. Use your favorite fresh or dried herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil, sage, thyme or rosemary, to create your own flavor profile. Next...add some cooked beans, purée, and you have a creamy soup.

Another way to create a creamy soup is to place your vegetable soup in a blender, add silken tofu, and blend. Canned creamed corn (the "cream" comes from corn starch) can also be used to stir in some creaminess. Just be sure to read the label so you aren't getting extra unwanted sugar.

For a "cream of" soup, start with a blender. Add silken or soft tofu, a dash of tomato paste, and a small amount of beans. Purée to create your base; you can thin with water or plant-based milk. Heat your base, and then add canned or fresh, cooked mushrooms for a cream of mushroom soup. Check your local market to see if they sell "riced" fresh cauliflower or broccoli (veggies that have been cut into rice-sized pieces). They cook quickly, and can be added to your cream soup base. If riced fresh veggies are not available, then use frozen, thawed cauliflower or broccoli that has been minced to create a cream of cauliflower or broccoli soup. If you would like a creamy tomato soup, add prepared tomato sauce to your cream base, and flavor with hot sauce or salsa or oregano and garlic powder and nutritional yeast.

If you want to give everyone an opportunity to "create their own," have some sliced fresh lemon or lime, fresh herbs, fresh bean sprouts or other types of sprouts, various types of hot sauces or chili sauces, sliced fresh peppers or chilies and chopped onions and chopped nuts "on the side." Add cooked pasta, barley, rice, buckwheat, or quinoa and beans to a basic soup and you have your own version of minestrone. Crumble and sauté some burgers or other vegan meat such as tempeh, shred tortillas, add to the soup, and you have a soup entrée.

You might want to try a soup with an interesting flavor and texture such as a West African-style soup. Mince and sauté garlic and onions, stir in tomato paste, stir in peanut butter (or soy nut butter), stir, and allow to heat, then add in broth or stock, add in shredded greens, and allow to simmer. This soup is ready to go, or you can add in veggie crumbles, shredded coconut, chopped nuts, raisins, leftover cooked veggies, cooked rice or couscous, etc. This soup lends itself to being served over cornbread, steamed breads, or potato pancakes.

When there's "no time" to create from-scratch soups, use canned or frozen soups to help create your own "signature" soup. To add some smokiness, add diced veggie hot dogs or smoked tofu to vegan split pea or bean soups while the soup is cooking. Create an "everything in the pot" soup by stirring in leftover cooked rice, pasta or grains, veggies (even Asian leftovers) into vegan vegetable soup. Add salsa, shredded tortillas, or cooked beans into vegan tomato soup for a Central American accent or cooked pasta, beans, and leftover veggies for a Mediterranean accent. Nutritional yeast is a good "stir in" to add flavor to soups, as well.

If you have a "bit of time," create a speed-scratch soup. Heat vegetable broth or stock and stir in leftover rice or noodles and leftover cooked veggies. If you don't have leftover veggies, quickly cook some frozen veggies and add to your broth, along with dried herbs or spices of your choice. Canned or fresh mushrooms, sprouts, diced firm tofu and seitan add texture and taste.

When you are planning on "souping" it up, add soup sides to your shopping list, such as savory crackers, matzah, pretzels, popcorn, crispy noodles, hard or soft tortillas, nori sheets, or veggie chips. Simply serve these with your soup and enjoy!