Soup balls in a veggie soup? Yes, nowadays you really don't have to reach for meat if you prefer not to. There are even vegetable soup balls already available that will make your traditional vegetable soup taste like it should. This vegan vegetable soup is such a nice dish when you still have some vegetables that need to be finished.
Vegetable soup with vegan balls from grandma's time, so just different
Who hasn't grown up with it: vegetable soup with meatballs. I did! And like my own children, I was most looking forward to the meatballs added to the soup. This made the soup extra tasty. Vegetable soup without meatballs is like kale or snert without smoked sausage, they think at my table. The fact that the meatballs and sausage are vegetable doesn't matter to my fellow inmates, so meat substitutes are that good these days. Tastes differ, so too for the taste of meat substitutes. For instance, I prefer to get vegan meatballs from one supermarket and plant-based sausages from another brand. Try out! There are now many products on the market that can perfectly replace meat in your traditional dish. Of course, a good vegan vegetable soup (without meat or substitute) is also super tasty.
Making vegan vegetable soup
Anyone can make vegetable soup. After sautéing an onion with some herbs, garlic and leeks from my parents' garden, I add the remaining vegetables with the stock and boil away. As my family consists of six big eaters, I always make a big pan. When there are leftovers, I eat this for lunch the next day or the kids take another bowl when they get out of school the next day. There is always someone here with a nice appetite. We never throw away leftovers! And this soup helps a lot with that!
On the left the leeks from my parents' garden that I put in the vegetable soup, in the middle the sautéed vegetables and on the right the end result.
Easy vegan vegetable soup from leftover vegetables
I often make soup when certain vegetables need to be finished. I top them up with extra fresh vegetables and you whip up a soup in no time. Maybe there is still a broccoli, cauliflower, potato, piece of celeriac, pepper or celery lying around that needs to be used up. Throw it in the soup! For this vegan vegetable soup with balls, I used a fennel, parsnip, a piece of courgette, potato, carrot, red onion, a red pointed pepper and leeks from my parents' garden.
Vegetable balls in your vegetable soup
Can't get vegan soup balls? Then buy larger soft vegetable balls and cut them in half. Roll two new balls out of them and ta-da! I did this with the vegetable balls from Vivera; these lend themselves well to this. Albert Heijn, meanwhile, has soup balls from Terra on the shelves. Both are very good in flavour and you easily cook the last five minutes into the soup.
With Vivera's vegetable balls you can easily make small soup balls. You can also buy ready-made soup balls at Albert Heijn.
Recipe: vegan vegetable soup with vegan meatballs
Kitchenware
- large soup pan
- cutting board
- chopper
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped
- 2 leeks in half rings
- 1 red pointed pepper
- 1 el tomato paste
- 2 toe garlic chopped
- 1 thumb of fresh ginger chopped
- 1 fennel sliced
- 3 turnips diced
- half a courgette diced
- 2 potatoes diced
- 1 parsnip diced
- 1 dash of balsamic vinegar
- 1 fluorescent mustard
- some spaghetti in pieces
- 2,5 litres vegetable stock
- herbs as desired: oregano, Italian herbs, basil or marjoram
- fresh herbs such as parsley or basil (optional)
Instructions
- Fry the onion and red pepper in a little olive oil.
- Add leeks and red pointed pepper and fry for at least 5 minutes with tomato paste and herbs as desired. I used Italian herbs, oregano and dried basil. The longer you let this simmer, the better the flavours are released. Add a dash of water when it threatens to burn.
- After a while, add the remaining small chopped vegetables and fry for a while until it softens a little and browns.
- Deglaze with the balsamic vinegar and add the stock and pieces of spaghetti. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes until the vegetables and spaghetti are tender. For the last 5 minutes, cook the soup balls with them.
- Season the soup with salt and pepper, stir in the mustard.
More green tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Wondering which vegetables are currently in season? You can read it here.
- Don't throw away all the butts and stumps because these you can regrow.
- Also tasty and healthy: vegan lentil soup.
Photo credits: Anne van Twillert.
