Hearty vegetable pasta soup
🌱🍲 🤔 Did you know that all of the pumpkins except for their stalk are edible? You can eat the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and the flowers. Whether you can eat the skin or not depends on the variety. Luckily, pumpkin season is in full swing! Let’s learn more about this veggie, king of the Halloween feast.
💪 Rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, pumpkin is incredibly healthy. What’s more, pumpkin is an excellent source of vitamin A due to its bright orange colour. One of the best ways to include pumpkin in your meals is by eating the seeds because they are rich in unsaturated fats and nutrients like magnesium, iron, and fibre.
👩🍳 There are plenty of ways to cook with pumpkin, and this versatile ingredient is used in sweet and savoury dishes like salads, curries, soups, desserts, and baked treats. Nothing warms the body and the soul like a bowl of vegetable pasta soup made with love and nothing goes to waste! Grandma Sita’s kale soup is made from seasonal, homegrown goodness, and her knack for making every ingredient count.
INGREDIENTS
1 small white cabbage
2 small white onions, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small butternut squash, cubed
1 bunch of kale, chopped
8-10 button mushrooms, chopped
10 small potatoes, cubed
1 can of cooked chickpea
250g of pasta (spaghetti)
Veggie oil, to sauté
Salt & back pepper, to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp sweet paprika powder
A pinch of chili flakes (optional)
METHOD
1. Wash the vegetables well. Peel the pumpkin and potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Chop kale, mushrooms, cabbage, onion, and garlic.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a pot. Sauté onions and garlic until transparent.
3. Add pumpkin, potato cubes, kale, cabbage, and mushrooms and stir for a while.
4. Add the spices, cook for several minutes, cover the veggies with water, and bring to a boil.
5. Cook for approximately 20 minutes. After the first 9-12 minutes, add the pasta and drained canned chickpeas.
6. When the veggies are tender and the pasta al dente, turn off the stove and remove the pot from the heat.
7. Ladle into individual bowls and serve warm. Bon appetite!
👵💚 Grandma Sita’s tips:
*Pumpkin soup is a crowd-pleaser and a great dish for prepping meals in advance. You can also store leftovers portioned in the freezer for whenever you need a quick but healthy meal.
*Roast pumpkin is so versatile you can add it to almost any dish, from creamy pasta to risotto, roast dinners, pastries, and pies.
*Pumpkins are often used to make jack-o-lanterns for Halloween feast. Instead of throwing your pumpkin scraps in the bin, keep them as leftovers to make a meal (soup, cake) or pop them in the freezer. If you save the seeds for roasting, nothing will go to waste! After Halloween, smash your pumpkin into small pieces and add them to your garden compost bin.
📗 Native to North America, pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Characteristics commonly used to define “pumpkin” include smooth and slightly ribbed skin and deep yellow to orange colour.
🍂🌎 Eating local and seasonal fruits and vegetables helps to reduce food waste, saves resources, improves food quality and healthy habits, and boosts the local economy.