Spicy Bean Soup

There is an area of cooking in which I am particularly confident and this is soup, which is one of my most favourite things to eat. I think it could be genetic as my Grandad can make soup out of anything he has leftover in his kitchen. In my gap year, I worked for 3 months in a fantastic job where I met my boyfriend RB, and we used to alternate making lunch to share each day and I always made different soups. I can't think of how many different types of soup, perhaps 30, I wished I had documented them now. I am now finished for the summer and I am back home, spending time between my parents and RB's, so with the help of RB I am starting making the soups again and documenting them all on here.

You will need...

(for 4 portions)

• 3 regular sized carrots, chopped
• 2 small potatoes, diced
• large courgette (zucchini), chopped
• 10 mushrooms, quartered
• a large onion diced
• 2 hand-fulls of shredded cabbage
• can of mixed beans, drained
• tin of chopped tomatoes with a sprinkle of sugar
• tbsp of tomato paste
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• tsp of cayenne pepper
• tsp of paprika
• vegetable stock
• salt & pepper
• coriander (cilantro)
• olive oil

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large pan and add the onion, gently frying till tender
2. Add the potato and carrot to the pan to saute before adding vegetable stock to generously cover the vegetables, let this simmer for 10 minutes
3. Then add the tomatoes, mushrooms, courgette, beans, garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Simmer until all of the ingredients are tender, I estimate this will take about 15 minutes
4. Add the cabbage right before the end of cooking and let it summer for just another 5 minutes so that greens are still full of life
5. Garnish with coriander to serve

Enjoy!